Coming home
by sprtzgal1213
Summary: What if Emily was one of Alison's victims instead of best friend? After an awful meeting the first day of high school, Emily becomes one of Alison's #1 targets. Hanna, Aria and Spencer begin their own high school journeys and Emily feels utterly alone. What happens when she returns 12 years later and lands a job at Rosewood High? Rated M for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ok, so someone asked if I would do a multi chapter and this idea popped into my head. I have a few chapters written, but wanted to get this out there to see what you all thought. Reviews would be awesome. Hope you all like it!**

 **Chapter 1:**

Emily Fields stood on the sidewalk outside of Rosewood High and took a deep breath. It had been 12 years since she had stepped foot in that school and she honestly never thought she would be walking the halls again. But after over a decade, it was time to put her past behind her and move forward. She pushed the torture and torment she endured in this place to the back of her mind and walked through the door with the rest of the students. This was the first day as the new Phys Ed teacher and girls swim coach. She had gotten her start here in this pool (as the middle school didn't have a pool they would come here and practice), and now she was excited to come back to that, at least.

Her coach at the time had made her absolutely fall in love with the sport in middle school. She had seen so much potential in Emily and was always encouraging her every day. Emily took it to heart and did everything the coach suggested to make her better. She pushed herself every day and was really looking forward to being on the high school team and all that that entailed.

Her life in middle school had been amazing. She had 3 best friends, Spencer, Hanna and Aria who would do anything for her and vice versa. They were always hanging out together and they were known collectively to their parents as the "4 Musketeers". Plus, she knew that her swim team and coach had her back. She couldn't wait to start high school. That is, until she walked through the doors of Rosewood High for the first time.

 _The four of the stood standing out front, just looking. Emily was nervous, but excited at the same time. Hanna was the first to break the silence._

 _"Are you bitches ready to start the best 4 years of our lives?!" Hanna was definitely the partier of the group. She was the loudest, most outrageous one, but also the most loyal. She loved her friends and couldn't wait to start this journey._

 _"I have to start studying now if I want to make valedictorian and get into UPenn," Spencer chimed in. Being a Hastings always seemed more of a curse in Emily's mind. So many expectations, it just seemed like too much pressure. Spencer seemed to bask in it though. She seemed to love the competition._

 _"Lame," Hanna said._

 _"Come on guys, let's get in there before we end up being late on our first day." Aria was the smallest and quietest of the group. She was incredibly artsy and loved literature. Her mom was actually an English teacher at the school and her dad was a Literature professor at the local college, so it definitely ran in the family._

 _They made their way through the halls and to their designated lockers. None of their lockers were close to each other, so they said their goodbyes and said they would all meet at lunch. Emily was trying to find her locker when she felt someone bump her shoulder, making her drop the hot chocolate she had in her hands and spill all over her shirt._

 _"Hey! Watch where you're going, idiot! You got shit on my new heels! What are you going to do about it?!" She looked up and her breath caught in her throat. This girl was the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen in her life. With the most gorgeous blue eyes and blonde, soft curls, Emily thought this girl looked like an angel, even with the scowl on her face at the moment._

 _"I-I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't see y-you!" Emily's brain seemed to not want to work at that moment in time._

 _"My shoes! They're ruined and it's all your fault!"_

 _This girl really loved her shoes, Emily thought to herself. She allowed her gaze to run down the girl's body to her shoes. She was wearing a yellow sundress that hugged her in all the right spots. It showed off just the right amount of her long, perfect legs, which were standing on 4-inch nude heels that were now stained with hot chocolate. Emily had never seen someone so beautiful before. She felt her stomach do a funny flip it had never done before. Before she could stop herself, she found herself blurting out, "you're beautiful!" before she could even think._

 _Before she could even register what she just said, the girl's lips turned into one of the most evil smirks she ever seen in her life. It was also then that Emily noticed the girl wasn't alone. There was a tall, dark haired boy and a small brunette with her too. The tall boy started laughing and threw his arm around the blonde._

 _"Come on babe, before the DYKE tries to make out with you out here in the halls!"_

 _Before she knew it, everyone in earshot was laughing and pointing at Emily and she felt the blood rushing to her face and tears begin to sting her eyes. She ran until she found the nearest bathroom and missed her first 2 classes._

And that was all it took. After that encounter, Emily's life at Rosewood High became pure hell. She had later learned that the girl's name was Alison DiLaurentis and the two people with her were Noel Kahn and Jenna Marshall. The 3 of them were always together and always found ways to call Emily some derogatory name or purely embarrass her. At first, Emily had her friends, who would often have to comfort her every day after school. But then, even her friends seemed to not be able to find time with her. Spencer made the debate and field hockey teams, so she was incredibly busy once school got into swing. Hanna had made friends with a girl names Mona Vanderwaal and they seemed to always be hanging out. Even Aria got super into yearbook and photography and spent most of her time with her yearbook friends.

Emily's only respite was the swim team. She had of course made the team and she seemed to be fitting in really well. Until another girl on the team, Paige McCullers came along and kissed her in the locker room and someone saw them. She was called a dyke, lezzie and carpet muncher more times than she could count in the first few weeks of school. She had been so mad at everyone. At Alison for being such a bitch, for Paige for kissing her out ABSOLUTELY NO WHERE, but mainly at Spencer, Hanna and Aria for not being there for her through all of this. She felt completely and utterly alone and would cry herself to sleep most nights.

Her time at Rosewood High didn't last long however, when they received the news in late September that her dad was being relocated to Texas for the Army in mid-October and they were all going with him. They would have a fresh start, as far away from Rosewood as possible, and Emily couldn't wait. She had loved Texas when she was there. The swim team helped her make new friends and also helped her get a scholarship to Pepperdine University, where she swam while she got her degree. She still kept in touch with Hanna, Spencer and Aria from time to time and she was grateful for the years they had together in middle school, but they grew apart and life definitely got in their way.

Eventually, she did find herself in college and came out to her parents. Her dad was cool with it, as she knew he would be, but her mom took some time to come around. She had though and now they were closer than ever. Especially now that her dad had passed away last year and her mom was moving from Texas back to Rosewood to be closer to her family. Emily knew that Hanna, Spencer and Aria had moved on from Rosewood thanks to their social media updates and she wanted to be there in case her mom needed anything, so she made the trip back home with her. She saw an opening at the high school and decided to apply. She needed to not let her memories of this building stop her from making a future for herself.

And now here she was, on her way to Principal Hackett's office to pick up her badge and keys. After the principal's office, Emily headed down to the gymnasium and began teaching her first class, which went pretty smoothly in her opinion. As did her next 2 until it was time for lunch. She headed into the teacher's lounge and made her way over to the coffee maker. She poured herself a cup and added some cream and sugar. She grabbed a stir stick and began stirring her coffee. As she turned to walk away, she didn't notice someone standing behind her and bumped into them, spilling her coffee all over herself, the floor and 4-inch nude heels.

Emily grabbed some napkins, crouched down and instantly began cleaning up the coffee from the floor and wiping at the heels to clean them up.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you, I'm such a clutz! If your shoes are ruined I'll get you a new pair."

The other person gently bent down and began helping Emily clean up her mess.

"Don't worry about it. It's ok, they aren't ruined."

Emily stopped dead in her tracks at that voice. She knew that voice. That voice had haunted her for years. She hesitantly looked up at the other woman and immediately felt all the color drain from her face. She stood up slowly as the other woman followed suit and extended her hand.

"I'm Alison DiLaurentis, head of the English department."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I wanted to first thank everyone who has reviewed/followed this story so far. I've had this second chapter edited for a few days, so I figured I would give it to you guys as a celebration that Friday is finally here! I honestly don't have a whole lot of this story pinned down yet in terms of where I want it to go, so if there is anything you would like to see or have happen, feel free to let me know! I'm going to go work on this a little bit more now, but until then, happy reading! Enjoy!**

Emily felt like she was about to pass out. She couldn't believe it. Alison DiLaurentis was here? Miss Queen Bee of Rosewood High? The same girl who made her life miserable for those agonizing weeks in high school? Emily felt all air leave her lungs. She couldn't breathe and people were starting to notice.

"Are you okay?" She heard Alison ask, her voice sounding full of concern, but Emily knew better. Alison didn't give a shit about Emily. She didn't even remember torturing her in this very same building! Obviously being the blonde's target wasn't enough to gain space into her memory.

"I-I-I just need some air" Emily was able to spit out.

"Ok" Alison said with a frown on her face. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"N-no, I'll be f-fine." With that, Emily turned around a left the teacher's lounge and headed back into the locker room and locked her office door behind her. She slumped down into her chair and put her head into her hands. What was even happening right now? She had done her research on the teachers here months ago. She mainly just wanted to look for Aria's mom, but when she got to the English department's website, she was surprised to not find Ella Montgomery's name anywhere. Instead, the Department Chair was listed as Alison Rollins. She hadn't even fathomed at the time that the blonde would still be in Rosewood anymore, let alone teaching high school!

Alison Rollins. She must have gotten married. But why did she introduce herself as Alison DiLaurentis? Did she get divorced? She knew it must be the same person. It was too much of a coincidence. Emily's head began to hurt thinking about this. She needed this job. She wanted to coach swim. She wanted to be the coach to inspire girls to succeed, just like her coach had done all those years ago. Maybe Emily could just avoid Alison and never have to see her. _Not going to happen_ , Emily thought, giving herself a sad chuckle. She took in a deep breath and blew it out. Her lunch period was almost over and kids were starting to trickle into the locker room for the next class.

The rest of the day went as smoothly as the first 3 periods. Emily was in her office after school gathering everything she would need for swim tryouts when she heard a light knocking on the door.

"Come in", she said without looking to see who it was.

"I just came by to see how you were feeling. You looked like you had seen a ghost earlier in the teacher's lounge."

Emily stopped what she was doing and her heart stopped. Why was she here? Why did she insist on torturing her more after all these years? Couldn't she just let her be? Emily knew it was only a short time that she was here, but her life was in shambles at the time. She had never felt so lonely or depressed in all her life. The rumors and comments about her being gay almost killed her. They created such a sense of self-loathing within her that she ended up in such a dark place. The only light at the time was Austin. It was such an accepting place. Even though she tried to, and did, have a couple boyfriends in high school, she always felt like it wasn't right. It wasn't until college when she met Sabrina, President of the college GSA, that she finally accepted herself. Even though her relationship with Sabrina only lasted a couple of months, she would be forever thankful for that time. She was finally in a place where all the self-loathing and hate was gone. She was happy with herself and she wanted to stay that way. Having Alison around made her feel like she was back in high school again, just waiting for the "dykes" or "homos" to be spit her way.

Emily stood up tall, looking Alison straight in the eye and clenched her jaw. "Why do you care?"

Alison looked visibly taken aback. Emily saw what she thought looked like hurt flash through those blue eyes. Emily shook her head, she must have been mistaken. No way that hurt is an emotion that Alison DiLaurentis would let anyone see. "I-I'm sorry, I just wanted t-to make s-s-sure you were okay. I was worried." Her voice sounded like it would crack at any minute. She took a second and cleared her throat. "I'll leave you alone. Have a nice practice."

And with that, Alison was gone. Emily took a few deep breathes to try to relax and then grabbed her stuff and headed out to the pool.

Tryouts were amazing. She had a full turn out with some great talent and potential. She was excited for this season. Tryouts had also allowed her to take her mind off of the blonde. She had a good, but long day and just wanted to go home and relax with a glass of wine. She gathered her things and began heading out. She just needed to use the restroom first. She slipped into the one in the main hallway. She went to put her bag down, when she heard a sniffle and the toilet flush. She looked over and noticed a pair of familiar looking heels with a small coffee stain on them. Emily groaned to herself as Alison walked out of the stall.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here, I'll just be going." Emily was trying to keep her composure. Alison looked at her and it was then that Emily noticed the red, puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks. "Hey, are you ok?" Emily had never seen the girl like this before. She had only ever seemed hard and composed in high school. Seeing her like this though, even with the tears streaming down her face, Emily remembered back to her first thought of Alison and still maintained she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.

"Why do you care?" Alison scoffed at her.

Emily let out a sigh. "So you obviously asked around to find out who I was and where to find me, but did you happen to catch my name?" She wanted to know once and for all if Alison really didn't remember her. When Alison just stared back at her, she continued. "My name's Emily Fields."

"Have we met before?" Alison looked at the brunette completely confused.

"Never officially, but I used to go here for a little while in 9th grade, until my dad got transferred with the Army and we moved to Texas."

"Oh, did we have any classes together?" Alison asked, still not able to remember the girl standing in front of her.

"No, but we actually met on the first day of school freshman year. We accidentally bumped into each other and I ended up wearing my hot chocolate," Emily breathed out. She hated thinking about that day. She hated the downward spiral that day had triggered. She hated to think what would have become of her had her family not moved away. But she was stronger now.

"Ohhhh…." Alison said, while a look of complete recognition washed over her face, followed by a look of absolute horror. "I h-have to g-go," Alison said as she pushed past Emily. And just like that, Emily was alone again in that bathroom that she had sought refuge in all those years ago.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Happy Monday everyone! Thanks for everyone who has reviewed/liked/followed this story so far! I'm glad at least a few people are liking it. To the reviewer who asked to not have Rollins in it too much, don't worry, he won't be. Alison will just be having to deal with the aftermath. And we get a little snipit from Alison's perspective in this chapter, and I plan on doing a full chapter soon. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you guys all enjoy it!**

Emily did her best to avoid Alison for the rest of the week. On Tuesday, Emily avoided the teacher's lounge at all costs. She brought her lunch and ate it in her office. She didn't see the blonde once and she was grateful. After school, she had her second day of swim tryouts, and then spent the rest of the night deciding on her team and what races she wanted them to try. She ended up in her office until after 10 pm and was exhausted the following morning. She tried to muscle through, but by the time lunch rolled around, she needed caffeine. She hesitantly made her way to the teacher's lounge. Looking around, she saw the back of those familiar blonde curls. She quickly walked over to the coffee maker, made her coffee and then ran out of there as fast as possible, hoping that Alison didn't see her.

It was now Friday and she had just dismissed swim practice for the night. She was content with the progress of the first week. She already had a solid line up in place and the girls were all hard workers. She was excited to begin competing to see what her team was really made of. She was sitting in her office inputting times into her computer when she heard a soft knocking on her door. Emily slowly looked up and her jaw clenched when she saw Alison standing there. She relaxed slightly when she saw the blonde's demeanor. She was beginning to think that maybe Alison wasn't the same bitch that she had remembered from high school. Alison looked almost shy and nervous. Her eyes were cast down to the floor and Emily could see her playing with her fingers.

"Come in," Emily responded while placing the paper in her hand onto her desk.

"S-sorry to bother you." Emily could hear the timidity in her voice, but she couldn't bring herself to respond to the blonde. After a few seconds, Emily raised her eyebrow, as if asking what the woman had wanted. "Right, ummmm… I, uh, I wanted to say… wanted to… say, uh, that I was sorry." Alison's eyes never left the floor, but Emily was sure she could see her cheeks grow a shade deeper pink than they were when she entered.

Emily's brow furrowed in confusion. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but she couldn't formulate a cohesive thought. Alison met Emily's eyes, but quickly returned her gaze to the back of the chair in front of Emily's desk. Yeah, Emily could _definitely_ she her cheeks were flushed, now bordering on red instead of pink.

"I know h-how I was b-back then." Alison really didn't know why she was so nervous about this. She usually never apologized for her past, even to the people she hurt all those years ago that she would see every now and again. She knows that she has changed and she usually just lets her actions do her apologizing for her. But once she had recognized that face again, that face of Emily Fields, she needed to apologize.

Once Emily had told her who she was, Alison was mortified. She didn't even recognize the girl that she had seen in the pictures all those years ago. She had grown into a beautiful, mature _woman_ , but once she looked into those brown eyes, she knew it was the same person. She knew that she was a total bitch to her for those few weeks, but she regrets those days with all of her heart now. She knows how her words and actions back then affected people, and she's determined to help her students who are victims of bullying and to stop those that do the bullying. She's wished for _years_ that she could go back and change that time of her life. Go back and help all those people that she hurt and love them instead.

That first day her eyes landed on Emily Fields, she didn't want to yell at her. Looking into those brown eyes, she didn't want to push her away. She just wanted to pull her close and protect her. She had never felt like that before and it scared her. It scared her that some no one had pulled those feelings from her. And she _hated_ feeling scared. So she pushed all that aside and did what she did best, torturing and bullying people to no end. And that's what she did with Emily. Noel and Jenna were the ones to spread the gay rumors, but she of course didn't stop them. She never said anything about her behind her back, but when she saw the brunette in the hall, she made it perfectly clear that she no more than a speck of dirt on the blonde's heel.

With every day that passed, Emily looked more alone. Eventually, she stopped walking with her group of friends, and after 3 days of eating alone in the cafeteria, she stopped showing up to lunch all together. Staring at the empty seat that Emily usually sat in, Alison would feel sad. She missed seeing the girl, but she couldn't understand _why_. Why did this girl get under her skin so much? Why was she always on her mind? Why couldn't she just _want_ to beat her down like everyone else? She was so confused by what she felt, that it made her act out even more.

Then, suddenly one day she was gone. She left school one day and never came back. Alison couldn't risk asking anyone about her and ruin her image of only caring for herself. She knows she was selfish, but she was a 14 year old, spoiled brat. She sees that now. She saw that a long time ago. After a couple of months, Emily still hadn't left Alison's mind. She was going crazy! She thought that maybe if she _knew_ where the brunette had gone, she would be able to put her to rest. So she looked her up on social media and found out that she had moved… to TEXAS. The thought of Alison possibly never being able to see Emily again made her heart clench. And seeing Emily's profile picture, of Emily staring into the camera, her chin in her fist resting on her desk, her eyes full of sorrow and pain, made her heart hurt even more.

She continued to follow Emily without ever friending her. Eventually, Emily's smile returned and she looked really happy. It looked like she made a ton of friends and even joined the swim team. It seemed like she was incredibly good too, judging by the news articles that were shared her on her account. _My mermaid_ , she smiled to herself. She could just imagine Emily gliding through the water, swimming past all her competition and being the star of her team. At one point during junior year, Alison had come across a picture of Emily with a boy who had his arms around her waist and she was kissing him on the cheek. She began to see more of those kinds of pictures pop up on her page, and every one made Alison _insanely_ jealous for some reason. She couldn't understand it at all, so she would slam her laptop shut and try to forget about the brunette. But the next night, there she was, scrolling through Emily's pictures seeing what the girl was up to that day.

It had continued on for a little while like this, mainly until halfway through senior year. She knew that Emily would be going to Pepperdine on a swim scholarship and she herself would be starting Hollis in the fall. She made a promise to herself to herself that she would move on from Emily. She _needed_ to. So she stopped looking for Emily on social media. She stopped her daily stalking and tried to move on with her life. For some reason it was much harder than she thought it would be, but it eventually worked and Alison moved on with her life, walked across the stage of her high school, had a few relationships, graduated college, eventually met and married Elliott, and then began teaching at Rosewood High. But she did think of Emily every now and then, especially once she began walking the halls of the school again. Those brown eyes never left her. The brown eyes that always seemed as if they could see into your soul.

Those same brown eyes were staring at her now, but they had a hint of iciness to them. _She hates me_ , Alison thought, _and I have no one to blame but myself._ Alison took a deep breath before she continued. "I, uh, just wanted for you to know how truly sorry I am for everything I put you through. And I want you to see that I've changed. So I was hoping that we could start over? Have a fresh start?"

"Why?" The brunette's tone was short and harsh and made Alison flinch ever so slightly.

Alison sighed. "You want the complete truth?"

Emily raised an eyebrow at that response. She wasn't sure what she wanted from the blonde. She had endured so much pain in such a short period of time from the blonde, she wasn't sure there was anything that would fix it. But, she had come here for a fresh start. She also wasn't that meek little girl from high school. So she decided to take a very tentative, tiny step forward in truly moving past her experience in this building. "I'm not saying that it will happen, but it might be a good place to start if you are really serious about trying to have a fresh start."

Alison let out a ragged breathe and looked back down to her previous focal point on the back of the chair in front of the desk. "You were the first person who I believed when they told me I was beautiful."

Emily was completely taken aback by Alison's words. She couldn't believe that Alison DiLaurentis didn't believe that other people thought she was beautiful. She was absolutely stunning in high school, and age had really been good to her, if Emily was being honest with herself. Her body had filled out and she had curves of her hips and chest that made Emily's stomach flutter if she really stopped to think about them. Her hair was a little longer, but still had natural curls that fell almost down to her mid-back. Her eyes were still the most beautiful shade of blue and the skin on her face was flawless and seemed to have a glow to it that made her look even more radiant.

"So all those boyfriends you had, they never told you that you were beautiful?" Emily asked incredulously. She still wasn't buying the response.

"No, no, they did tell me, but I never believed they really meant it." Alison continued to bore a hole through the office chair.

"Why not?" Emily asked as she got up and moved to the front of her desk and stood in front of the chair, forcing Alison to look at her.

Alison looked up and saw the iciness was gone from Emily's eyes. She let out a deep sigh before she answered. "Who would think I was beautiful?! I was such an ugly, cold hearted person back then!" Emily could hear her voice waiver some as she spoke so honestly about herself back then. "I only ever cared about myself and didn't care who I knocked down and kicked, as long as my reputation was still standing. I never saw myself as beautiful, so I never believed that anyone else saw that either. I usually just assumed some guy wanted to get in my pants when they told me I was beautiful." Alison looked away and Emily saw her wipe a tear from the corner of her eye and wanted to just give the woman a hug. Told hold her and tell her she was beautiful and to always believe it.

Instead, Emily hooked her finger under Alison's chin and forced her to look at her. "You are beautiful, Alison DiLaurentis."

The air suddenly became thick in Emily's office. She could see Alison searching her eyes with her own, trying to figure out if Emily was telling the truth. Emily got lost for a moment in Alison's eyes. They were as blue as the ocean, but they weren't hard like Emily had remembered since high school. They were soft now, pleading almost, wanting to believe that Emily meant every word of that simple 5-word phrase. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, but in reality it was only a few seconds before Alison broke the contact and pulled her chin away.

Alison gave her a shy smile before clearing her throat. "Um, thanks. I'm… I should get going. Have a nice weekend." Before Emily could even respond, Alison was out the door and out of the locker room. Emily returned to her chair and grabbed her papers and continued inputting the times into her spreadsheet. She stayed another half hour, with a smile plastered on her face the entire time. Maybe Alison DiLaurentis _had_ changed. Maybe it could be worth giving her a second chance. She decided to think on it over the weekend and see what Monday would bring.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! This week has been crazy for me at work, so I haven't been able to work on this at all until this afternoon, but I'm kind of on a roll, so I figured I would get this next chapter out. I hope you all like it. Thanks again to everyone who has already followed and reviewed this already. Feel free to review to let me know what you think. Happy Friday!**

It was now Monday morning and Emily was getting ready for work. She had had a pretty quiet weekend, which was how she liked it most of the time nowadays. Back in Texas, she would usually go on hikes with her friends or take her 4 wheeler out to the desert and let lose. During her time in California, she would head to the beach and catch a few waves. Since moving back to Rosewood, however, she just liked being at home. As much as she was ready to leave and move to Texas back then, this town was her _home_. She was born and raised here, and she had forged _so many_ great memories with her 3 best friends. Granted, Alison was the start of her _hating_ this town at one point, but now that she is older and wiser, she is beginning to see past all of that.

After swim practice early Saturday morning, Emily went for a run with no real destination in mind. At one point, she found herself running past the Hastings' house and couldn't help but smile when she saw the barn in the back yard. The girls had spent countless nights in that barn, laughing and gossiping until the early hours of the night, before falling asleep sprawled out wherever they found themselves. She remembers just hanging out, doing homework after school. She really did miss those girls, even though they had made her so mad in those first few weeks of high school.

Emily had made amends with them eventually though. She realized that they had all grown apart and that she also shut herself off to them at the time. No one knew the effect that Alison DiLaurentis had on her back then. No one knew that she would run home after school and cry into her pillow until she had no more tears to cry. No one knew how her heart broke every time she watched as Alison stood by and allowed either Noel or Jenna to spit homophobic slurs at her. Emily wasn't able to explain it at the time, but she was drawn to Alison. The moment she laid eyes on her, it awakened all of these feelings and emotions deep down within Emily, and it scared her to no end. She didn't know what it all meant. She thought that maybe she did have a crush on her, but once the gay rumors and hateful things began being thrown her way basically from the blonde's bidding, Emily couldn't feel anything other than hurt. It was true that Alison wasn't necessarily the one saying things, but she didn't stop anyone or stand up for Emily, either, which almost made it worse. But the truth was, she liked her, and she didn't even know _why_. It was something that she was never able to explain to herself, so it was easiest to just push those feelings down and try to forget they existed.

And now that she is older and has fully embraced herself and her sexuality, those feelings for Alison have come back in full force. Ever since their conversation on Friday night, Emily couldn't get the blonde out of her head. She had never seen _anyone_ look that vulnerable and regretful before. She truly believed that Alison was sorry for everything back then. She also believed her when she said that she never saw herself worthy of being called beautiful. Emily had never seen so much self-loathing and self-hatred before than what was swirling in those beautiful eyes. Well, she had seen it in herself at one point, but her heart broke for Alison at the way she spoke about herself. She was absolutely radiant and the students really seemed to admire her. And even though they said she was one of their toughest teachers and could be a real bitch sometimes, Emily could see how excited they were when she would overhear conversations about the latest book they were reading in class. Emily knew that that passion most likely came from Alison's teaching style, and made a mental note to hopefully ask her about where her love of literature came from one day.

By late Saturday night, Emily had already decided that she was going to give Alison a second chance, even though she was going to keep herself guarded, just in case. All day Sunday Emily couldn't wait to see Alison the following day. Emily decided she would get up early and try to catch Alison in the teacher's lounge before school. As she entered, she saw Alison sitting with her back to the door. She decided to grad a cup of coffee before heading over to the empty seat across from Alison. As she rounded the table, she saw Alison with a book in her hands, completely lost in the pages within.

"Great Expectations, huh?" Emily says as she slides into her seat. Alison jumps slightly, before catching Emily's eye and putting the book on the table in front of her. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you, but I just wanted to say hi."

"Hi," Alison gives her a genuine smile. "How was your weekend?" She asks, a little shyly.

"It was good. We had practice early Saturday and then I went for a run and found myself getting lost in old memories. The rest of the weekend I just kind of hung out with my mom and just relaxed."

"That sounds nice," Alison said with a small smile. She hesitates for a moment before speaking again. "Can I ask you something?"

"S-sure", Emily says with a slight frown, nervous about what Alison is going to ask her.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. And if I've overstepped, you can tell me." Alison's rambling is only stopped when she looks at Emily and the brunette raises one eyebrow and her eyes widen slightly, as if telling her to take a breath and calm herself before she continues. She does just that before adding, "what happened back then? After I was so mean to you? It was like one day you just, disappeared. Did you leave because of me?"

Emily wanted to scoff at her and tell her how conceited that just sounded. But Emily couldn't, not with the hurt that she could clearly hear in Alison's voice. "No, my dad was in the military and got transferred to Texas. They only gave us a few weeks' notice." Emily avoided eye contact with her response and _really_ did not want to talk about this right now. She can see that Alison opens and closes her mouth a couple of times trying to respond, so she quickly reached forward and grabbed the tattered book that Alison was reading a minute ago to change the subject. She flipped through the pages and noticed notes in almost every open space of the margins. They were all penned in different colored ink, but all had the same distinctive script. Emily could tell that some of the script was younger looking than some of the more mature looking writing. "You've read this a few times, huh?" Emily asked with a sideways smile as she looked up and met Alison's gaze.

"It's one of my favorites. I read it back in high school and absolutely fell in love with it." Alison can't help the smile creeping across her face as she talks about the book. Emily feels herself begin to smile, as well.

"What's it about? I've never read it."

"It's about this orphan, Pip." She can't hold back the laugh that falls from her lips.

"What's so funny?" The brunette asks with a smile

"Their names, Pip, Mr. Wosple, Uncle Pumblechook. They all sound like stuffed animals," she says with a laugh. Emily can't help but laugh at the blonde as she reminisces, making her facial features soften more than they already are, giving her an almost childlike glint in her eye. "Dickens was big on happy endings, you know. Pip gets Estella in the end."

When Emily looks at her, confused, the blonde continues. "Pip fell in love with Estella, who flat out ignored him half of the time and then treated him like shit the other half! He just wanted Estella to love him back, so he worked to become wealthy so she would love him. But she married a man who treated her like shit, and years later, after he died, Pip came and found her again." Emily could hear the waver in Alison's voice at the last part and saw her swallow hard before she continued. "Can I read you my favorite part?" Alison asked, a slight blush creeping up into her cheeks.

Emily nodded, giving silent permission to go on. Alison flipped through the book until she found what she was looking for. "I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement could be." Emily was watching Alison intently, taking in every word as it fell from her lips. Alison glanced up at Emily's intense gaze for a moment, before it became too much a split second later and she looked away. It was long enough, however, for Emily to catch the glassiness now present in blue eyes.

Emily reached forward towards Alison's forearm. "Hey, you ok?" She asked, ducking her head to the side to try and make eye contact with the blonde.

Alison opened her mouth as if to speak, but before any words could come out, 3 teachers entered the lounge talking pretty loudly amongst themselves. Alison pulled her arm away and tucked the book into her purse before getting up to leave. "Class will be starting soon, have a nice day, Em," she said quickly before making her way out of the room and down the hall to her classroom.

Emily sat there alone, replaying the blonde's words in her head. There was _one_ word in particular that she kept coming back to in her head. _Em_. That had been her nickname for as long as she could remember, but when Alison said it, it was beautiful. It was like Emily only wanted to hear it from Alison's lips and no one else's, ever again. The thought made her smile.

Then she remembered the look in Alison's eyes after reading from the book. She could see the tears forming in the corners. She looked at the clock and noticed they still had 20 minutes until the first bell. _So why was Alison in such a hurry to leave?_ She furrowed her brow at the thought of something bothering the blonde and wanted to go make sure that she was ok. So Emily chugged the rest of her coffee and threw her cup out on her way to find Alison. She headed towards Alison's classroom, but when she reached the doorway, she noticed she wasn't there. So she turned around and headed towards the restroom just down the hall. As she opened the door, she could see someone in the farthest of the 3 stalls and could hear sounds of crying.

"Alison?" Emily said quietly as she walked in, not wanting to startle the woman.

"Yeah?" Alison said through a sniffle

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Alison, I'm here if you need to talk. We have some time before first period still."

Emily could hear Alison sniffle and the latch open on the stall door before Alison stepped out, wiping her eyes with a wad of crumpled toilet paper. Emily didn't like seeing anyone like this, but especially not Alison. Her feelings were definitely growing stronger with every minute she spent in the blonde's company and she had to fight back the strong urge to run over and wrap her arms around Alison and tell her everything will be okay.

"My lawyer called me last night. Told me that my piece of shit ex-husband is claiming that _I_ was the one having the _affair_ and that _I_ should owe _him_ the spousal support!" Emily could see fresh tears start to trail down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Alison." Emily's voice was soft as she ducked into one of the stalls and handed Alison some fresh toilet paper before walking over to lock the bathroom door to save Alison any embarrassment from some early bird student coming in and seeing her like this.

Alison smiled in response. "Thanks. I never thought he would do that to me! Especially not with CeCe!" Emily gave a look of "who's CeCe", which Alison caught immediately and continued her rant. "CeCe was _supposedly_ my best friend, until I caught them together in _our_ bed and they confessed their _undying_ love for each other in front of me!"

Alison was shaking with rage and fresh sobs. Emily hesitantly put her arm around Alison's waist and told her "I'm sorry" under her breath. Alison immediately turned into Emily and flung her arms around her neck and sobbed into Emily's shoulder. Emily took her other arm and rubbed up and down Alison's back, shushing her and telling her everything will be ok into her hair. Emily was hit with the faint scent of vanilla from her shampoo and the smell was intoxicating. As much as it pained her to see the blonde in so much emotional pain, she didn't want this moment to end. She wanted to stay like this, holding the blonde in her arms forever.

After a few minutes, Emily can feel Alison start to calm down. As Alison began to pull away, she dropped her arms from around the blonde and whispers, "it's his loss, he's a fool to have ever let you go."

Alison blushes at the comment as she wipes at her tear stained cheeks. She sniffles one last time before throwing her tissue into the garbage and unlocking the bathroom door. Before she exits, she turns to Emily with a sad smile on her face. "Thank you. I know I didn't deserve your kindness, but, thank you."

"Try to have a nice day, Ali."

Emily can see a blush return to Alison's cheeks as she turns and walks out the door, but Emily can see her mouth "Ali" with a small smile before the door finally closes between them.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Happy Monday everyone! I'm looking forward to this week because I actually have a lot of down time at work for the next few days. So I was able to finish off this chapter and about half of the next one. This chapter has a couple flashbacks in italics and text messages are in bold. For those of you who wanted a chapter in Alison's perspective, I'm working on that one right now, so it's coming next :) In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you for all who have followed and reviewed so far. I'm glad you are all enjoying this!**

It was about a month into the school year, and Emily's year so far was honestly going amazingly. Her Phys Ed classes were always fun and she loved joining in on the lessons and playing with the kids. She had a few amazing swimmers on her team and they were already ranked one of the top teams in the conference before they'd even had their first official meet. Emily couldn't have been more proud of the girls and the hard work that they've put in so far. She was both excited and nervous for their home opener coming up later on this week. It would be her first real test as head coach and she really wanted the girls to start off their season on a high note.

Emily also enjoyed the fact that she and Alison had been steadily building their friendship over the past few weeks. After that moment in the bathroom, Emily's mind kept wandering back to Alison with every free second of her day. From how hurt and angry the blonde had been to how it felt to just hold Alison in her arms. Her heart felt for Alison and although her parents had always had a happy marriage, she knew divorce was a hard thing to go through. Especially when one of the parties involved is _unfaithful_. And with your _best friend_ no less! Emily couldn't even begin to imagine what would go through someone's head at that moment of finding out and afterwards. Emily had hurried out of her last period class that day to try and catch Alison on her way out before swim practice.

 _She hurried through the halls towards Alison's classroom, where she found the blonde sitting behind her desk grading papers. Emily's breath caught for a moment, seeing the blonde sitting there with her head slightly cocked to the side, her hair perfectly falling in waves over her shoulders, resting gently on the swell of her chest. This was also the first time Emily saw her with glasses on and she had to admit, she definitely had the hot teacher look down. She pulled herself from her gawking before she was caught and knocked quietly on the door. Alison looked up and smiled as she saw the brunette stood in her classroom doorway._

 _"Hey, come in" she breathed out._

 _"Hey, sorry, I just wanted to see how the rest of your day went." Emily stated with a slight blush to her cheeks as she walked over and sat in the desk right in front of Alison's._

 _"It was better after this morning." Alison got up from her chair and rounded her desk. At first, Emily thought she was heading in front of her desk to lean back against it, but was pleasantly surprised when she sat herself down in the desk directly to the right of Emily. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that, I didn't mean to unload all of my crap onto you all at once."_

 _Alison looked away shyly before Emily responded, "It's ok, I know sometimes you just need to vent and just want someone to listen."_

 _"Yeah" Alison sighed. "Thank you though," she reached forward and put her hand on Emily's forearm. The skin under Alison's touch felt like it was alight with electricity. It almost caused Emily to recoil at the shock, but she slowly relaxed when Alison ran her thumb up and down Emily's skin a couple of times before adding, "For being there for me this morning. As I said, I know I didn't deserve your kindness, but I'm glad you gave it to me anyway."_

 _"Don't worry about it. We have both grown up from that time in our lives and I told you I would give you a second chance. We are friends now, and friends are there for each other when you need them." Emily finished off her last statement with a smile._

 _"Thank you, again," Alison said returning her own smile and pulling her hand away from Emily's arm after another quick rub of her thumb. Emily wanted to frown at the loss of contact, but instead reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper to hand to Alison. "What's this?" Alison asked, confused._

 _"It's my number. In case you ever need anything. An ear to listen, someone to put a hit on your ex, whatever," Emily replied with a wink and a smirk at her last suggestion._

 _Alison couldn't help but laugh._ Really _laugh at the brunette's humor. She could feel her dimples pop, something that hadn't happened in a_ while _. She hadn't laughed in what felt like months, not since before catching her scum bag husband in bed with her bitch ass best friend. But it felt_ good _. "Thank you, so very much." Alison's features softened and her smile reached her eyes as Emily nodded to her and headed back out the door, presumably back to the pool for swim practice._

After that day, it was almost as if the two were inseparable when in the school. Alison had texted later on that night, thanking her _yet again_ for their moment in the bathroom that morning and for getting her to laugh in her classroom after school. They began eating lunch together in the teacher's lounge daily and after about a week, began meeting before school for coffee. They talked about anything and everything really, at first keeping the conversations light, but soon growing deeper as they became more comfortable with each other.

One morning a few days ago, they found themselves alone in the lounge before school enjoying their coffee together. The conversations, while getting deeper, had stayed away from any talks of exes, other than the blonde's ex-husband. It was mostly because neither one of them really knew how to even approach the topic, given those awful rumors that Alison had started all those years ago. Yes, they had moved on and seemed to have a real connection, but Alison was afraid that broaching the subject would cause the brunette pain, which she didn't want to do. For Emily, she just never wanted to talk about that part of her life. She had moved on from it, as well, but she also never felt the need to talk about those dreadful weeks all those years ago.

 _"Hey, Em…" Alison bites the inside of her cheek, debating with herself about whether or not she wants to ask the question that's been on her mind for a good week now. They've had many conversations at this point, but the brunette has never mentioned a significant other. She hasn't either, but honestly after high school, Elliott was really her only relationship, so there are no other exes. But Emily is smart, and beautiful, and funny, and has such a big heart, she finds it impossible that there isn't someone special in her life. After her internal debate, Alison decides to reword her question, but hopes that it will eventually come back to the real question on her mind. "Do you have any plans on Saturday night?"_

 _Emily looks at her, slightly confused. Up until now, aside from the text messaging that has been going on between the two basically every night, their contact has been strictly within the walls of this building. Was Alison DiLaurentis asking her to hang out outside of school? This was a huge step in their budding friendship. "Ummmm… I'll have to check, but I don't think I have anything going on."_

 _"Oh, ok. There's someone you have to check in with, then?" Alison tried to cover up the disappointment in her voice, thinking that the brunette had someone at home waiting for her._

 _Emily noticed the blonde's change in demeanor and smiled slightly. "Just my mom. When we moved back here it was just easier to get a place together. I think it was easier for her, too, with my dad being gone, so she wouldn't be alone." Emily gave a sad smile at the mention of her father._

 _"I'm sorry to hear about your dad, Em." Alison gave Emily a sad smile before she reached over and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze._

 _Emily's skin felt warm beneath Alison's touch and she immediately missed it once Alison pulled back. She looked back up and was met with kind, blue eyes. "Thanks, Ali"_

 _"So, Saturday? There's a show in Philly that I've been dying to see, and I have an extra ticket. Would you maybe want to check it out?" She looked up, and seeing a look of shock on Emily's face took it as rejection and immediately regretted her offer. She began to backtrack, trying to fight the heat quickly rising up into her cheeks. "If not, it-it's ok. I'm sure you have better things to do on a Saturday night than hang out with me. You probably have a line of guys waiting for you. I, uh, I know, it was stupid, never mind. I shouldn't ha-"_

 _The sound of Emily clearing her throat made Alison stop her rant. Alison looked up and was met with a smirk on Emily's face. "Alison, I would love to hang out with you on Saturday night."_

That conversation took place on Monday morning and Emily felt like she was on cloud nine ever since. The thought of spending time with the blonde outside of their normal territory sent Emily's stomach flipping and her heart racing. Even though she knew she was attracted to the Alison, she wasn't sure how Alison had felt about her. She knew Alison was married before, so she assumed she was straight, but she sometimes got the feeling that the blonde was overly affectionate and flirty with her. It confused her, so she decided that she was going to follow Alison's lead with where there relationship should go, whether they just remained close friends, or progressed to something more. But Emily had to constantly remind herself not to be disappointed if Alison wanted to remain just friends, even though her feelings for her golden-haired friend where far deeper.

It was now Thursday, the day of their big home opening swim meet against their rival school, Ravenswood High. She had been pushing the team and they had all risen up to her level of expectations, but Emily was still extremely nervous. She knew that however the team did was a reflection on her and her coaching. Her job was to push them as far as she could go while still making it fun. And the results of this swim meet would reflect if she was accomplishing that or not.

The girls were all warming up and the stands were really starting to fill up. She couldn't help but think of the days when she first discovered swimming and the meets she used to have here in middle school. She could always count on Hanna, Aria and Spencer to be in the stands cheering her on. Her parents would never miss a meet, either, with her dad always cheering the loudest. Even in high school, whenever he was able, he was in the stands, cheering her on. She always had the best support system, but today, something felt off. She wasn't the one swimming. Her dad wasn't there cheering her on and her 3 best friends from middle school were no longer in her life really. The one person she had left was her mom, and she had picked up a shift at the police station tonight. Emily looked into the crowd with a frown and turned back to her team.

She brought them all together for a pre-meet pep talk and cheer before beginning the races. The teams were pretty evenly matched, and by the time they had finished the first ten races, the score was tied at 81 points to each team with only one race to go. Whichever swimmer won this race, won the meet for their team. Emily's stomach was in knots, so she couldn't imagine how Addison, her star swimmer, was feeling right now. She pulled Addison to the side and took her through some breathing and visualization techniques to help quell her nerves and relax her some. Then, Addison got into position and the race began. It was neck and neck the entire race, but at the last turn, her opponent didn't get a clean push off on the wall and came out of the water a half a body length behind Addison. The crowd was going wild and Emily was running on the deck alongside Addison cheering her on. She touched the wall first and was immediately pulled from the pool by Emily and her teammates for a celebratory group hug.

After they had released each other, the crowd started making its way down to the deck to give their congratulations to the individual swimmers. Emily took a step back and watched from a short distance away, basking in her team's win, but wishing that she too had someone she could celebrate with. Just then, she felt someone lean up from behind her and whisper "Congratulations, Coach Fields" into her ear. Goosebumps immediately shot all over her body and she felt an all too familiar tightening low in her stomach at the warmth breath on her ear. She knew that voice and turned around to find Alison standing before her, with a smile so wide that her dimples popped.

"Thanks! I didn't know you were coming today!" Emily said, in a state of complete shock and, embarrassingly, arousal.

"Of course! I wouldn't have missed your first meet for anything in the world! The girls did amazing! And I saw what you did with Addison, getting her to calm down like that and focused before her race. You really are amazing with these girls, Em!"

Emily couldn't keep the blush at bay. Her whole face felt like it was on fire. "Thanks, Ali."

Just then, Alison moved in closer and wrapped the brunette into a bear hug and held on like she never wanted to let go. Emily slowly wrapped her arms around Alison's shoulders and returned the embrace. After a few moments, Alison untangled herself from Emily, revealing that her usually rosy cheeks were now a shade or two darker than previously. Emily thought it was adorable and couldn't help but smile.

"I'm going to head out now. I have a ton of papers to grade. But I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm just going to wait for all the girls to leave before I lock up my office and head home for the night, as well." Emily said with a shy smile.

"Great job tonight, Coach!" Alison quickly grabbed Emily's hand at her side and gave it a squeeze with a smirk on her face. "Sweet dreams, Em." As she slowly started to walk away, she didn't let go of Emily's hand right away, only letting go when she was too far out of reach from the brunette.

Emily looked down at her hand, too stunned to really say anything back to the blonde, but just stood there with a dopey grin on her face. She watched as Alison walked away, swaying her hips back and forth, and she was pretty sure that the blonde was exaggerating her hips just to drive Emily crazy. Once the natatorium door shut behind Alison, Emily snapped herself out of her haze and headed back into her office to begin cleaning up so she could head home for the night.

Once she got to her office though, she pulled out her cell and sent a message off to Alison. She felt like she needed to reply to the blonde's goodnight now that she wasn't in such a trance.

 **Goodnight, Ali. – Em**

 **Thank you for coming to the meet tonight. You have no idea how great it was to see a familiar face in the crowd. – Em**

 **You're welcome. I wouldn't have missed your first meet for the world. I look forward to the upcoming season :) – Ali**

With that, Emily headed home, looking forward to the following day when she would get to spend more time with Alison.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! Just an update to get you guys through hump day. Thank you so much for the reviews so far. It seems like you guys have really been enjoying this so far! So this was originally going to be there big "date" chapter, but as I started writing it totally took a different turn. But I'm really happy with where it went. I just finished the next chapter and that got a little away from me too, so the date is going to be be split between 2 chapters I think. But it is coming! So for now, enjoy this one. There's a tiny little morsel in there that kind of starts to delve into the M rating of this fic, just as a warning that it is coming. Also, this is an Alison POV chapter for those couple of you that wanted one! Anyway, enjoy and happy hump day! Reviews are welcome as always!**

The next day, Alison woke up feeling extremely nauseous. She had barely made it to the bathroom before vomiting into the toilet. She had been feeling a little under the weather the past week and a half or so, but she just chalked it up to the stress of her divorce with Elliot while getting back into the swing of the school year. Alison flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth in the sink before splashing cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and realized how awful she had looked. She decided that there was no way she was going to make it to work that morning, and called off her first 3 periods before crawling back under the covers.

She woke 2 hours later feeling a little better and grabbed her phone off her nightstand. She had 3 new messages waiting for her. She frowned when she realized that they were all from Emily. The first was a picture of 2 coffee cups sitting on what looked to be one of the tables in the teacher's lounge with a caption that read: **I grabbed your coffee, 1 cream, 2 sugar, just how you like it :).** Alison couldn't help but smile at the gesture. Emily really was very sweet and thoughtful so much of the time. However, the next 2 messages made her feel awful for not telling Emily that she wouldn't be in this morning.

 **Hey, are you on your way in? Your coffee is getting cold. – Em**

 **I just talked to the office, they said you called in your morning periods. Are you ok? – Em**

Alison quickly typed a response out, not wanting the brunette to worry any more than she already had.

 **Awww, thank you for the coffee :) I'm sorry I didn't make it in this morning. I was feeling a little under the weather. – Ali**

Alison put her phone back onto her nightstand and headed off into the bathroom to get ready to head into work. After she showered, she wrapped herself in her robe and headed back to her bedroom where she noticed she had gotten a text message.

 **Are you ok? Do you need me to get you anything? – Em**

 **No, thank you. I'm actually getting ready to head into school now. I'll see you for lunch, right? – Ali**

Alison's stomach lurched at the mention of lunch, but she figured she would just grab some soup and crackers from the cafeteria and she would be ok. She headed into her walk in closet to dry her hair and get dressed. By the time she had come back out, the brunette had responded.

 **Wouldn't miss it for the world. Glad you are feeling better. Be safe on your way in :) – Em**

By the time she got to school, she had one period to teach before lunch. She still wasn't feeling great, but she was definitely feeling better than this morning. At the end of period bell, Alison headed down to the cafeteria to grab some chicken noodle soup and crackers before heading off into the teacher's lounge. She smiled when she saw Emily, already waiting for her at their normal table with a smile on her face. As Alison slid into her chair, Emily reached behind her into her bag and pulled out a ginger ale and handed it across the table to Alison.

"It always helps me when I'm not feeling so hot."

Alison was blown away with how thoughtful Emily was. She graciously accepted the bottle and took a small sip before slowly beginning to eat her soup.

"I'm sorry again I missed our coffee date this morning," Alison said with a sad smile. She really did look forward to starting her day with the brunette each morning. If she was being honest, she missed having coffee with Emily on the weekends. Even though the coffee at school wasn't as good as what she brewed herself, it was definitely much better company than the loneliness of her cold house and the memories of Elliott.

"Don't worry about it. I just thought something happened after last night and you didn't want to see me anymore," Emily replied with a frown that clenched at Alison's heart. "I'm glad you're ok though. And that we're ok."

Alison reached across the table and put her hand on top of Emily's. "We're ok, Em. I'm sorry that I made you worry."

"It's ok. What happened this morning though? Are you sure you're ok now? You look a little under the weather." Emily was rapid firing questions at her with concern written all over her face.

"Emily, calm down, I'm fine. My stomach was a little funny this morning, but I just needed a couple more hours of sleep."

"Ok," came the response and the two of them finished their lunches in comfortable conversation until they headed their separate ways.

After school, Alison headed straight for the girls locker room in search of her favorite brunette. She had realized after lunch that they never even discussed their plans for tomorrow night, so she just wanted to make sure they were still on. Alison was really looking forward to getting to know Emily outside of their work environment and really hoped that she was still feeling up to their "date". Alison found Emily in her office sitting at her desk with the door open. Alison leaned against the doorway, arms crossed over her chest.

"Whatcha doing?" She asked, before pushing herself off the doorframe and taking a seat in the open chair once Emily looked up at her and smiled.

"Just imputing grades for the week. I was so focused on the meet last night that I completely forget to give anyone a grade this week!" Emily let out a heavy breath.

"Glad the week is over?" Alison said with a small laugh.

"Yeah, I was so proud of the girls last night, that I gave them today and tomorrow morning off from any official practicing. We don't have another meet until next Friday, so I figured they could use some downtime before we really buckle down again come Monday. I did tell them I expected them to get into the pool at least once this weekend on their own though." Emily was still beaming from her win last night and Alison was so happy for her.

"So you don't have anywhere you need to be tomorrow morning?" Alison asked shyly. She didn't really understand why she was always so nervous around the brunette. Well, she did know why, but she wasn't really sure what to do about it. All she really knew was that she wanted to spend as much time with the brunette as possible.

"No, why?"

"Would you maybe want to grab a coffee with me at The Brew in the morning? To make up for missing out on our usual coffee date this morning." Alison really did feel awful about unintentionally ditching the brunette this morning and wanted to make it up to her.

Emily looked away before responding with a furrow to her brow. "Are you sure? You want to see me in the morning AND later on in the day for the show? Are you sure you won't get sick of me?"

Alison thought the brunette's shyness and insecurity she was showing at the moment was adorable and she couldn't help but smirk. "Em, trust me, you will get sick on me LONG before I get sick of you."

"I don't think that's possible," Emily replied under her breath.

"Hmmm?" Alison caught something, but she wasn't exactly sure what Emily had said.

"Oh, nothing. So The Brew in the morning? Let's say, oh, 9 o'clock?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Alison said as she pushed herself up out of the chair, throwing over her shoulder as she walked out, "Have a nice night, Em! Looking forward to coffee tomorrow!"

Alison tossed and turned most of the night in anticipation for the morning. She was extremely anxious for this day and she wanted it to be over, but didn't want it to end at the same time. Her anxiety wasn't helping her stomach much, but thankfully she woke up in a much better state physically than she had the previous morning. She was very thankful that she wouldn't have to cancel on Emily yet again. She couldn't wait to see the brunette who appeared behind her closed eyes all night, invading her thoughts and dreams.

She had woken up at several points during the night with her mind racing. Her subconscious had apparently been in overdrive and wouldn't let her mind rest ahead of the day she was going to be spending with the brunette. By the time she had awoken from the last dream, however, she had given up on trying to go back to sleep seeing as it was almost 7 am. She knew that there was no way she was going to get those images out of her head, of her writhing and panting beneath the brunette, Emily's hand between their bodies disappearing between Alison's legs. She had gasped awake from that dream, covered in a thin sheen of sweat and trying to blink away an image that she knew deep down she didn't want to forget. She had a crazy throbbing between her legs, and she slowly slipped her hand beneath her pajama shorts. Her panties were soaked and she couldn't understand why her libido seemed so out of control that morning. She removed her hand and with a frustrated huff, swung her legs over the side over the bed and headed into her master bathroom. She needed a cold shower if she was going to be able to get through this day.

It was 8:30 and the blonde was completely ready for her morning coffee after finally deciding on the perfect outfit to wear that morning. She then looked at the pile of discarded clothes on the bed and decided that she would worry about that later before grabbing her purse and heading in the direction of The Brew.

She was about 10 minutes early when she had finally made her way into the coffee shop. She decided to head to the counter to place an order for herself and Emily when she got there. She ordered a cappuccino for herself and an Americano for Emily, remembering back to a conversation that she had had with the brunette on one of their first mornings having coffee together when she had told Alison that while the coffee in the teacher's lounge was pretty good, it didn't compare to a good Americano on even the best day. She also ordered them two croissants and headed over to the couch in the back corner of the shop. She had decided to sit a little off center of the couch, hoping that when Emily finally did walk in, there wouldn't be a huge amount of space between them when the brunette took her seat.

Alison was sitting back against the couch with her coffee in her hand when she heard the bell above the door ding. She lifted her head and noticed Emily had just walk through the door. This was the first time in years that she had seen Emily outside of school, and she had to admit that Emily was gorgeous. She had grown accustomed to seeing her in her track suits with her hair back in a ponytail for her job at the high school and while she was still beautiful, nothing could have prepared Alison for this. Emily was dressed in a pair of black, skinny jeans, a pair of calf-length boots, and a tight, white v-neck tee under a black, waist length jacket. Her hair was down and fell naturally to her mid-back. Her makeup was light, with just some soft color to her cheeks and her eyes. Alison's breath caught for a moment and her mind quickly went back to her dream from a few hours before. She swallowed hard and quickly pushed the thoughts running rampant in her head aside and called Emily over to the couch.

With a genuine smile, Emily made her way over and sat down to the right of Alison, mirroring the blonde's position slightly off center on the couch, after a quick "good morning" greeting.

Alison was thrilled that Emily actually sat next to her, and not in one of the chairs across from them, but she tried to contain her excitement as she handed Emily her coffee.

"I ordered an Americano for you. I hope you don't mind? I remembered you saying that they were your preferred method of caffeine intake."

Emily smiled widely. "Thanks, Ali! You didn't have to get it for me, but yes, it is my favorite caffeinated beverage!"

"I'm glad I remembered correctly! I also got you a croissant."

"Thanks again, you really don't need to be this sweet, though." Emily said. She felt bad that she had been running a little late and wasn't able to get here before the blonde to do exactly what Alison had done for her.

"I wanted to," Alison said shyly, looking away from Emily and back down to her mug. "I felt bad about yesterday, so I wanted to make it up to you. I've really grown to enjoy your company, and if I'm being honest, I miss it on the weekends when we don't have coffee or lunch together."

Emily was caught completely off guard with that last statement. She had actually been feeling the same way, but didn't want to say it, not knowing exactly how Alison felt about it. She looked down into her coffee for a moment and sighed, before giving a sideways glance to her left. "Me too," she said, almost at a whisper.

Alison leaned forward, putting her elbows on her knees. She brought her mug up to her lips, a smile on her face. "Good to know," she breathed out before taking another sip of her cappuccino. Alison took a chance and shifted her body to the right some, closer to the brunette, so their knees were lightly touching.

They stayed like that for the next 2 hours, talking and laughing with each other, each enjoying another beverage; Emily's treat this time. Everything felt so easy between the two of them. Alison loved how beautiful Emily was when she laughed. Her laugh and smile were just so infectious, it could brighten an entire room. She decided right then and there that she was going to make it her mission to make sure that she makes Emily laugh every day, much like the brunette had made her laugh all those weeks ago when she really needed it. It was after 11:30 when they decided to head home to get ready to head into the city in a few hours.

"Thank you, for the amazing company this morning," Alison said as they slipped out of the coffee shop.

"You're welcome. So we'll meet at the station at 3:45 to catch the 4:00 train into the city?"

"Sounds great! I'll see you then!" Alison turned to head home when she was stopped by her name.

"Ali, wait!" Alison turned around to face Emily, who suddenly appeared very nervous and was chewing on her bottom lip.

"What is it, Em?" Alison stepped closer with her brow furrowed, wondering what had caused the sudden change in the brunette's demeanor.

"I, just. Um, just for the record. When you said the other day that I probably have guys lining up for me? Umm, I. There hasn't been guys since high school. It's, uh, only been girls since." Emily finally got through what she wanted to say, looking at Alison with nothing but nerves and shyness in those big brown eyes.

Alison's jaw dropped slightly. All those horrible things that Emily went through that she was the cause of. How hurt she must have been by all those rumors. And then the stupid pigskin kiss happened. Honestly, Alison was more jealous than anything about that, she just didn't know why at the time. She didn't fully understand now, even. But there was something about Emily that drew Alison in. Like they were polar opposites on two magnets, constantly being pulled towards each other.

Alison noticed Emily's still shy behavior and wanted to put the brunette's mind at ease. She quickly closed her mouth and a genuine smile turned up on her lips. She noticed Emily was looking everywhere but Alison's direction. "Em, look at me." Alison's tone was so soft, Emily looked up immediately. "Thank you for telling me. The fact that you like girls doesn't bother me. And it doesn't change how I feel about you."

A smile slowly crept onto Emily's face. "Really?"

Alison let out a small laugh. "Yes, really! Now go home and do what you have to do and I'll see you in a few hours." Alison winked over her shoulder at the brunette as she sauntered away in the direction of her house, leaving Emily stood in the middle of the sidewalk with the goofiest grin she thinks she's ever had.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm gonna keep this short cause I have the worst headache right now, but I wanted to get this up for the weekend. I hope you like it. Review it, let me know what you think. See you all next week.**

It took Emily a few minutes to gather herself from her spot on the sidewalk. Her entire walk home was consumed by Alison's words. _It doesn't change how I feel about you_. What did that even _mean_? Did Alison mean that it didn't change their friendship at all and being gay was no big deal in her eyes? Or did it mean that Alison had feelings for her and that was her subtle way of letting Emily know? She was so caught up in her own head that she didn't even realized she had walked right past the apartment complex where her and her mom shared a 2 bedroom space.

Sighing, she backtracked and headed up to the second floor and into the apartment. Her mom was working all day, so she was alone in the empty space with just her thoughts. She decided that she needed to go for a run to clear her head and had enough time before she needed to meet Alison at the station. By the time she returned from her run about an hour later, however, her mind was more consumed by the blonde than before. She couldn't believe that she had finally come out to Alison. She's come out so many time before, but this was different for some reason. She had run past Rosewood High and those memories came flooding back. She remembered all the homophobic slurs and crude comments she received. She remembered one time in particular that had hurt her more than most.

 _It had been a little over 3 weeks since school started. Spencer, Aria and Hanna hadn't really been around much, making their own groups of friends and having their own things going on. Emily hated how it felt like her group of friends was falling apart. She had started to make a good friend on the swim team, though. Her name was Paige McCullers and she was a very good swimmer. She and Emily always competed for the top spot on the team, but the competition was always friendly. There was never any animosity towards each other, always congratulations and words of encouragement. One day, Emily and Paige were the last ones in the locker room after swim practice. Emily was drying her hair after showering when Paige came up from behind her._

 _"You did really great today, Em."_

 _Emily smiled as she turned around. "Thanks, Paige. You did great out there, too."_

 _Paige took a step closer, brushing a stray piece of hair behind Emily's ear. "You know, you look really beautiful when you're swimming. Gliding through the water like its second nature to you. You really are amazing, Em. Not just as a swimmer, but as a person, too."_

 _A blush appeared on Emily's cheeks. "Thanks, Paige, I-" But before she could get any more out, Paige leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. Emily had never felt anything like it before. The fullness of her lips and the feeling of her soft hand gently placed on her cheek. She pulled back slightly to look at Paige. Everything about that moment felt_ right _. Emily knew in that moment that no guy would make her feel this way. She smiled and leaned back in to kiss Paige again._

 _Once their kiss broke, Paige pulled back and asked with a smile, "Would you, maybe, like to go grab something to eat sometime with me?"_

 _Emily smiled back. "I would love to! I can't tonight though, I have a ton of math homework I need to do."_

 _"Ok, that's fine. Sometime soon though, right?" Paige was incredibly shy in the moment, looking like she was afraid Emily was blowing her off._

 _"Absolutely! 'Night Paige! I'll see you tomorrow." Emily's grin was ear to ear, she could barely contain her excitement in that moment._

 _"'Night, Em."_

 _And with that, Emily was left alone in the locker room with a smile that wouldn't fade. She quickly finished getting dressed and headed home. She finished all her homework and decided to get to bed early, both exhausted from the tough practice that afternoon and excited to see Paige the next day._

 _However, as soon as she stepped into school the next day, she wanted nothing more than to run home and crawl back into bed. As she walked by kids in the hall, she noticed that a lot of people were whispering around her. She thought that maybe she was being paranoid, but by the time she made it to her locker after 2_ _nd_ _period, she knew that she wasn't. Someone had put a note on her locker with only the word "DYKE" written across it. She quickly ripped it down, but it was too late. Too many kids had already seen it and were laughing at it. She slammed her fist against the locker and went to leave when she turned around straight into Noel Kahn._

 _"Woah, Fields! Where you rushing off to?" He said with an evil smile on his face._

 _"Get out of my way, Noel!" Emily just wanted to get away but Noel was blocking her way. She try to side step him, but he moved again to block her way. She could see Alison DiLaurentis a couple lockers down, watching the whole encounter with Jenna at her side._

 _"You're upset about the note? It's true though, isn't it? I mean, everyone knows about your locker room secrets."_

 _Emily's mouth felt suddenly dry. "What are you talking about?"_

 _"What? You didn't know about the video? Oh yeah, that sweet little kiss you and McCullers shared last night? Someone got it on video and emailed it out to the whole school."_

 _He laughed the most evil laugh Emily had heard. He grated on her very last nerve and her head felt like it was beginning to spin. She felt her knees almost buckle and she had to muster everything in side of her not to just collapse right then and there._

 _"Maybe next time, make sure you really are all alone before you start making out like a lez in the open!" He sauntered over to Alison and put his arm around her shoulders and guided her down the hall. Alison looked back at her and she locked eyes with Emily for a second before turning her head and walking away with Noel._

 _She couldn't believe what had just happened. Someone saw them last night? She thought that they were alone. How could a moment that felt so right, cause her so much pain? She looked around her and noticed that a crowd had begun to form around her interaction with Noel. She looked up and saw Paige standing off to the side of the crowd looking on. Instantly, her feelings flipped and she felt nothing but seething rage. Towards Noel, towards Alison, towards her friends for not being there, but especially, towards Paige. Did Paige know that someone was in there? How dare she kiss her and allow someone to tape it and send it to the whole school! She got up and headed straight for Paige. Paige saw her and immediately turned and tried to walk away. Emily was too quick though._

 _"You did this!" Emily screamed in Paige's face. "This is all your fault!"_

 _"Emily, I didn't know!" Paige pleaded with Emily. But Emily wasn't having any of it._

 _"Shut up! I never want to see you again!" Emily shouted as she shoved Paige out of the way and made her way into the bathroom where she found the last stall and locked herself in it. She climbed up onto the toilet and she let her tears fall. She was shaking with anger and hurt. How could this all have happened? Everything felt so good last night when she went to bed. She had such hope that things would finally start to look up for her at this school. She felt alone in that moment. She spent the next hour in the stall, hiding away from everything swirling around her. Her tears had started to dry up when she heard the door open and two sets of heels click on the floor and head over towards the sink. She recognized Mona's voice instantly._

 _"Did you see her face?! It was priceless!" Jenna said as she laughed. Emily moved her head slightly to peek through the crack in the door and could see Jenna and Alison standing in front of the sink, primping in the mirror before lunch._

 _"Yeah" Alison said half-heartedly_

 _She saw Jenna lean forward and put a new coat of lipstick on. "Oh come in, the lez got what she deserved! That first day, what happened between you two? You didn't want people thinking you were like_ her _, did you? I mean, you have a reputation to uphold. You can't have people thinking that you're a_ carpet muncher _now too!"_

 _Emily retreated farther into the corner of the stall at Jenna's question to Alison. She craned her neck to peek back through the crack and saw Alison with a look of almost defeat on her face. "No, I guess not," she said sullenly. She glanced over to Jenna when something caught her eye in the mirror. For a second time that day, Alison locked on to those brown eyes that belonged to the brunette that she really just wanted to protect. Emily knew that Alison could see her cowering in the corner of the bathroom stall and she wondered if she could see the tears brimming at the bottoms of her eyes. She thought that she could see a look of guilt and sadness on Alison's face for just a split second and it made her feel a hundred times worse about this whole thing. She just didn't understand it at all. She held her breath until she heard Alison murmur that she was hungry and she grabbed Jenna by the arm and dragged her out of the bathroom. Once she heard the door shut and the bathroom was quiet again, Emily let new tears flow down her cheeks._

Emily remembered how she had gone home from school early that day with the excuse that she wasn't feeling well and ran to her room and shut herself in until she had cried herself to sleep. She was woken up by a knock on her bedroom door and her father's voice asking if he could come in because he needed to talk to her. She tried her best to hide her emotions, but she never could, especially not from him. He knew there was something wrong and she eventually blurted out how much she hated that school and never wanted to go back. It was then that he told her about being transferred to Texas and how they would be moving in a few weeks. He asked her if she could hold on just a little while longer and she promised him that she would.

Life was hard when she had first moved to Texas. With everything that had happened with Paige, she was so afraid of anyone finding out about what she might be. She was even afraid to admit it to herself. So she denied her feelings for any girls and even tried dating a few guys. One guy in particular, Ben, caught her attention for about 8 months. He was also a swimmer and they started dating a little ways into junior year. Everyone thought they were the "it" couple, but she had to break up with him when he started getting more aggressive about pushing her to take their relationship farther than making out. Emily wasn't comfortable with that and she knew why, she just didn't want anyone to find out and have her life here be ruined like back in Rosewood. So she stopped dating after that and focused on swimming and getting a scholarship to a D-1 college.

Sighing, Emily grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, a protein bar and an apple before heading into her room. She was debating whether or not to cancel on Alison tonight. She knew that the Alison that she had gotten to know over the last month or more definitely was not the same girl from high school, but Emily had to admit to herself that those memories still hurt like hell. She felt like she just needed to work through them. She grabbed her phone and went to the messages tab before finding Alison's conversation thread. She saw that she had a message from the blonde that she hadn't noticed until just then. A smile appeared as she read Alison's sweet words.

 **Thank you for opening yourself up to me. I know it couldn't have been easy and I know how much pain I inflicted on you in high school, but I PROMISE you that I will never hurt you like that again. X –Ali**

 **You are an amazing person, Em. Never forget that :) X –Ali**

Emily felt her eyes welling up with tears before she allowed them to flow freely. She had been so scared and nervous earlier in the day and now the floodgates holding in her emotions were opened. This was definitely not the same girl from high school. Then a thought hit her square in the chest like a ton of bricks: _was Ali like that in high school because she_ liked _me too?_ With the way Alison had been flirting with her, it would make sense. Plus, it would put what she said this morning into perspective. Emily decided that she and Alison definitely needed to clear the air. She quickly typed out a reply.

 **Thank you, Ali X –Em**

 **I'll see you at 3:45 sharp! ;) X –Ali**

 **Wouldn't miss it for the world ;) X –Em**

Emily's sprits were definitely lifted and she stripped out of her running clothes before heading into her bathroom to shower and get ready for her whatever-it-was with Alison. After she showered, she decided to throw on a pair of dark grey dress pants with a turquoise button down with the sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows. She decided to leave her hair down but curled the ends slightly for just a little extra body. She then did a smoky eye and put some blush on her cheeks before grabbing her lip gloss, throwing it in her clutch and then heading out towards the train station.

She had gotten there around 3:40, not wanting to leave Alison waiting and she was relieved to see that the blonde hadn't arrived yet. She went to the kiosk and purchased tickets to Philadelphia on the 4:00 train and headed back towards the entrance to wait for Alison. Emily was beginning to get antsy when she looked at her phone and the time read 3:49. She knew Alison was extremely punctual, so she was nervous that she was being stood up. But the last time they had talked, all had seemed fine between the two. Emily debated sending Alison a message when she noticed the blonde walking into the station.

Emily's breath caught in her throat. Alison looked gorgeous. She was wearing a yellow, knee-length dress with a white cardigan over it and matching heels. Her hair was down and curled in wide curls that fell well below her shoulders. Her makeup made her look radiant. Alison was heading towards her and Emily's eyes flickered down to her bare legs. Alison noticed Emily's gawking and cleared her throat before finally stopping right in front of the brunette.

"Hey," Alison said with a smirk on her face.

"Hey, I was starting to think you were ditching me," Emily said in a teasing tone as she handed Alison her ticket.

"Sorry, I couldn't find the right outfit to wear tonight. It seems like none of my clothes fit me right these days," Alison said apologetically. "You should see my bed right now, I think my entire closet is laying out on it," she continued with a laugh.

Emily gave a chuckle of her own before adding "you look beautiful" with a blush and a shy smile.

"Thank you, so do you," Alison added with her own shy smile.

A silence fell between them as they waited for the train, which was due to arrive within the next couple of minutes.

Alison broke the silence first. "So I was thinking that maybe we could grab dinner before we head to the play? By the time we get to Philly we'll have about 2 hours until we need to head over to the theater."

"Sounds fantastic! Did you have anywhere in mind?" Emily inquired.

"Actually, I know of this really great French place a few blocks from the theater. Would French be ok with you?"

"A Parisian experience with you would be perfectly acceptable." As Emily spoke, the train pulled up to the platform.

"Good," Alison said as she slipped her arm through Emily's and they boarded the train arm in arm.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys. Happy Halloween for anyone out there that celebrates. So here is their date in Philly! :) It's a long one, but I wasn't really sure of a good place to end, so I gave it all to you guys! There will be some end of date fluff next chapter and then a little drama to spice things up some! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read this and review it. It means a lot! Anyway, without further ado, enjoy the date! Please, let me know what you think!**

Thankfully, the train into the city wasn't that busy and they were able to find seats easily. They picked a section of only two seats so that they wouldn't have anyone on either side of them. Emily was seated closest to the window and as the train began to pull away, she found herself mesmerized by the passing scenery.

After a few minutes, Alison began to worry. "You ok, Em?"

Alison's voice pulled Emily out of her trance. She had been thinking back to this afternoon. To her thoughts back to high school during her run. She wasn't sure why, but it was weighing heavily on her mind. She thought back to that day in bathroom and the look that she caught in Alison's face. She remembers seeing regret in those eyes, but she doesn't know for what. She also remembered the thought that crossed her mind once she got home, too. About how maybe her feelings towards Alison weren't one sided? But that was ridiculous to even think that. Alison never even said two words to her after shouting at her that first day! How could Alison have liked her back then? This was all so confusing.

She remembers that day as being her most rock bottom day. She didn't want that memory weighing down on her mind. Not today. Not when she had such an amazing time with Alison over coffee this morning. She was sure that the dinner and play was going to be just as amazing. She needed to shake the memory from her head.

Emily turned her head to Alison and gave a slight nod. "Yeah, I'm ok, sorry, I was just thinking."

"About?" Alison quizzed.

"Nothing important, don't worry about it. I'm just glad to be able to get out of Rosewood for a few hours and have fun with you." Emily gave Alison a genuine smile.

Alison, however, didn't completely buy Emily's answer, but didn't want to push the brunette into talking if she didn't want to. Emily was a grown woman and if she wanted Alison to know something, she would tell her. But she made a note that if Emily kept zoning out on her, she would force her to tell her by the end of the night. "I'm glad to have the evening with you too, Em." Alison took her hand and slipped it through Emily's elbow again as she shifted closer as she snuggled into Emily's side.

Emily wanted to get her mind off of her thoughts, so she tried to change the subject. "So, what is this show about that you're bringing me to see?"

"Well, I was looking through the local art paper and saw that one of the local junior colleges was putting on their own production of Great Expectations, with their own modern twist. I thought since you hadn't known much about the story, that you would be ok with it?" Alison looked at Emily expectantly.

Emily couldn't help but chuckle at Alison. "That sounds lovely."

"And I figured it was symbolic, considering it was basically the first time we had an _actual_ conversation with each other. I thought it was a good tribute to our friendship." Alison smiled as she leaned in a little more to the brunette's side.

Emily frowned as she returned her gaze to the passing landscape. _Friendship?_ Was this really all this was? Granted, their relationship hasn't been physical at all, other than small touches that they have encountered today and on a very few occasions previously. But there has been _definite_ flirting between the two of them, and _especially_ on Thursday night after her swim meet. She just _knew_ that Alison knew what she was doing talking so closely to her ear when she congratulated her on the win. And the way she exaggerated the swing of her hips on the way out. Was this just how she was with her friends? Was she just overly affectionate and flirtatious by nature? She had hoped that as time went on tonight that Alison's feelings would become clearer to her, but honestly what she just said just confused her more.

Alison noticed Emily's change in demeanor again, but decided not to question it just yet. She enjoyed being so close to the brunette and never wanted to be apart from her unless absolutely necessary. The sway from the train, coupled with the silence that had fallen between them, had almost a sedative effect on Alison. Given the fact that she hadn't slept much the night before, her eyes became heavy and she had trouble keeping her head up.

Emily noticed the jerky head movements of the blonde and questioned if Alison was ok.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just didn't sleep very well last night and I think the caffeine from this morning is wearing off."

"Here, we have another 45 minutes until we get to the city, why don't you rest for a little bit?" Emily slid her arm out from Alison's and snaked it around the back of the seat and to Alison's far shoulder. She gently pulled her closer and when Alison didn't immediately put her head down, Emily took her hand and encouraged Alison with gentle pressure to the side of her head.

"Are you sure?" Alison asked, concerned that Emily would think she was lame for needing a cat nap at 4:15 in the afternoon.

"Ali, it's fine, put your head down and rest. I'll wake you up when we get to Philly."

"Thanks, Em." Alison smiled into Emily's shoulder as she nuzzled up against her and took in the smell of Emily's coconut shampoo. "I'm sorry if I'm being lame," Alison mumbled as she drifted off into a light sleep.

Alison was awoken by what she thought was a gentle kiss to the top of her head, but she may have been completely making that up, since she didn't feel Emily move next to her before she heard "Ali, wake up, where almost to our stop."

Alison rubbed at her eyes sleepily, but didn't lift her head as she was incredibly comfortable snuggled into Emily's side. "Sorry, I guess I was more tired than I thought." Alison tried to stifle a yawn but was unsuccessful.

Emily couldn't help but think how cute Alison was when she was sleeping. Alison's nap had given her plenty of time to herself to think over things further. Alison felt so good cuddled up close to her. It just felt so right. It was the same feeling that she had only had once before in her life. On the night that she kissed Paige in the locker rooms when she finally realized her true self. Now, sitting here on this train with her arm wrapped protectively around Alison as she slept, it felt right, too.

Seeing Alison's sleepy eyes look up at her, she thought for a moment about how she wanted to wake up to that sight every day, before realizing she was getting _way_ ahead of herself. Plus, she still didn't know _for sure_ how Alison felt about her. She had a pretty good idea after this train ride, but she still couldn't be 100% sure. During Alison's nap, Emily had gone through every conversation and every moment that the two had spent together and analyzed every detail. She _knew_ Alison had been flirty with her. She _knew_ that night in the pool after the swim meet was _more_ than a friendly gesture on Alison's part. She _knew_ Alison wanted to spend time with her. She just needed Alison to open up.

She gave Alison a squeeze with her arm and leaned her nose into the blonde's head before finally releasing Alison so that she could stretch and grab her things as the train pulled into their stop in Philly.

As the train started to slow down, Emily and Alison made there was to the train doors and Alison again took her arm and snaked to through the crook of Emily's elbow. They stepped out onto the platform still arm in arm and headed up the stairs and onto the street.

"Alright, tour guide, lead the way." Emily said as she gestured for Alison to lead them in the direction of the restaurant.

"Did you ever come here before you moved away?" Alison asked curiously as they began their walk.

"Only a couple of times. I remember coming here once alone with my parents and then the summer before high school, Aria, Spencer, Hanna and I came here one afternoon just to hang out. We thought we were so cool and mature because our parents let us come alone. Little did we know at the time though that Spencer's mom had paid her older sister Melissa to trail us and make sure we stayed out of trouble." Emily said with a laugh and a fond smile of the amazing day the 4 of them had shared right before everything fell apart.

"You mean Melissa Hastings? I didn't know you knew the Hastings."

"Yeah, Spencer, Hanna Marin and Aria Montgomery. We were all extremely close in middle school." Emily said with a frown.

"What happened? I know they came to Rosewood High after middle school." Alison wasn't so sure why Emily had looked so sad all of a sudden.

"Nothing, really. We just grew apart. Spencer did the Field Hockey and debate thing. Hanna found a shopping buddy in Mona and Aria got super into book club and year book. When things kind of went south for me, I just kind of shut them out. I mean, I had my own new friends on the swim team, but after the video, I felt like I had lost everyone. I remember I was so mad at them at first, but after a while I realized that we had just grown apart. They had their own stuff. They called me and stuff at first, asked me if I was ok with everything going on, and I just brushed it off and told them I was fine. I don't know if they ever believed me, but they never pushed me to open up. We still keep in touch every once in a while, but I haven't seen any of them since I left Rosewood."

Emily took a deep breath when she was done. She didn't mean to let that all slip out all at once. She didn't want Alison feeling bad about everything, but she was beginning to get a little sick of not addressing it. Her thoughts from earlier wouldn't leave her. She wanted to know how Alison felt about it all. She had already said how much she regretted her actions, but Emily needed to know _why_ exactly. Was it because Alison realized her mistakes, or was there something _more?_ Like, say, Alison really was attracted to Emily, just like Emily was attracted to Alison?

Alison felt tears brimming around her eyes. She had already felt awful for what she allowed Emily to go through, but she really had no idea that Emily was also losing her best friends in the process. She didn't realize that Emily was completely alone. That made everything so much worse. Alison had been working on herself so much over the years to forgive herself for what she did. But getting to know Emily has made her regret everything so much more. Getting to know the funny, kind, caring, free spirit that is Emily Fields has made her hate herself even more for her past. And that self-loathing was coming back tenfold in this moment. Alison felt like she couldn't breathe. She felt like all the air had left her lungs and there was no way of it getting back in. Her head was spinning and she needed to sit down. She let go of Emily's arm and stumbled her way towards a nearby bench.

When Emily looked over at Alison, she rushed to her side and helped her sit. "Ali, what's wrong?"

"You were alone! You had no one! And I was so awful to you! How can you even look at me? I don't deserve you in my life! You deserve so much better!" The tears were flowing freely down Alison's cheeks. Her breathing was erratic and she was shaking from her sobs.

Emily moved in front of her and crouched down, so she was eye level with Alison. Alison had her head ducked and her hands on either side of her head. Emily ducked her head to try to get Alison's attention. When Alison finally made eye contact with Emily, Emily's heart broke. She had never seen such a destroyed look in someone's eyes before. Emily gave her a sad smile before reaching her hand out and placing it gently on Alison's cheek.

"Alison, look at me." Emily's tone was firm, but she needed to get Alison's attention to help steady her breathing. "Breathe, Ali. Breathe with me, in and out. In and out. Focus on my breathing. There you go. In and out." Alison's breathing began to even out with each breath her and Emily took together. Emily took Alison's hands in her own and looked her straight in the eye. She needed Alison to _really_ hear her. She had seen how much the blonde still beat herself up over what had happened when they were younger. "We all have a past. We've all made mistakes. But what matters is that we move on and we _learn_ from them. I don't know why things were the way they were between us, but it's in the past. You've been amazing to me since I started at Rosewood High. That's all I could ever ask from you. And I regret being so shut off from you in the beginning. I'm sorry for that. But I'm _so_ glad that you kept on me and wanted a fresh start. And I'm so glad that I decided take your offer. Because I've gotten to know _another_ Alison DiLaurentis. One who is intelligent, and smart, and funny, and has an _insanely_ beautiful soul."

Fresh tears began to spill down Alison's face. No one had ever spoken such beautiful words to her before. She looked into those brown eyes and saw nothing but pure truth and honesty.

"Please, no more tears for the past, Ali. _Please_ , forgive yourself, because I forgive _you_."

At that, Alison flung herself at Emily and wrapped her arms tightly around her neck. She held her close and never wanted to let go. She felt Emily's arms wrap around her waist and she never wanted Emily to ever let her go. They stayed like that for a minute, Alison crying gently into Emily's shoulder until she composed herself enough to pull back. "Thank you. You are the most amazing woman I've ever met." Alison's throat felt raw from her sobbing, but looking into Emily's eyes just now, Alison's mouth went completely dry. Her heart began beating a mile a minute and she felt like her stomach was doing somersaults. Emily licked her lips and began to creep forward towards Alison. For a spilt second, Alison leaned in towards to brunette, but as their lips were a mere inch apart, she cleared her throat and broke out of their embrace.

Emily frowned at the loss of contact and looked curiously at Alison.

Alison cleared her throat again. "Sorry, we just need to get to the restaurant if we want to make it to the show on time."

"Ok, lead the way." Emily couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed and confused at how quickly the atmosphere had changed between them. _Maybe I am misreading this whole thing?_ She thought as she turned back towards the way they were headed before Alison's panic attack.

Emily shoved her hands in her pockets and the pair set off towards the restaurant.

Dinner had been amazing. Their journey towards the restaurant had started out in an uncomfortable silence, but it was quickly broken when Alison began talking about how she hoped Emily would like the food. That, in turn, began the talk of Alison's love for France, and more specifically, Paris. She even told Emily how great she thought the brunette would look on top of the Eifel tower with the wind blowing through her hair. This made Emily blush and she couldn't stop her mind from wandering to what a vacation with Alison would be like. Just the two of them, doing whatever they wanted, just getting away from it all. Emily was pulled from her thoughts when they finally arrived at the restaurant. The food was exquisite and they were both feeling the warmth of the two glasses of wine they each had by the end of the meal. When the bill came, Alison insisted that she pay for the both of them, and Emily thanked her quietly before slipping a $20 onto the table for the tip.

They then headed to the local college and settled into their seats for the show. Emily was excited to see why Alison loved the story so much. As the play went on, Emily couldn't help but see the similarities between herself and Pip. Both of them seemed to be victims of unrequited love. And both of them loved people who had treated them horribly at one point or another. At one particularly sad scene, Emily was startled to feel Alison's hand move across the armrest and intertwine with her own. Emily looked down at their joined hands and looked up and was staring into those beautiful blue eyes. She noticed they were brimmed with tears. Emily gave her a sad smile and mouthed _"Are you ok?"_ Alison gave Emily's hand a squeeze and nodded back in the affirmative with a small smile before turning her eyes once again to the stage. Their hands stayed joined until the very end until they had to stand for applause.

Alison had decided that she didn't want the night to end, so she suggested that they take a walk through one of the local parks before heading back to the train station. It was a warm night and Emily decided that she wasn't ready to leave yet either. The park was beautiful and quiet. The sounds of the city began to fade away as they headed deeper into the middle of the park. Alison had been there several times throughout the years and it held a special place in her heart. She led them both over to a bridge that crossed a small stream running through the park and stopped them in the middle to look at the water below and the moon and stars above them. Emily was in awe. It really was breathtaking. She looked up into the sky and saw a million stars twinkling down at them. The moon was reflecting off of the gently running water. It was incredibly romantic.

"My mom and I used to come here a lot when I was younger. She would always point out the different constellations to me and teach me about the stars. As I got older, we stopped coming here as much, but when we did, we would have the best conversations. Just about life and everything going on. It was here that we had a conversation that changed my life and how I treated people." She let out a deep breath and side eyed Emily, who was staring at her attentively, silently asking her to continue. "Towards the end of high school, my mom got sick. At first, they didn't think it was that bad, but she didn't respond to any of the treatments. One day, before she got too sick to travel, we came into Philly and just spent a mother/daughter day together. We came out here to this bridge and she told me that the doctors had told her to start saying goodbye to everyone." Alison wiped a stray tear from her cheek. Emily reached over and took her hand in her own. "She told me that she wanted me to show the world the _real_ Alison. She knew that I was hiding behind my reputation, but she wanted me to just trust that I was a good enough person on my own and people would love me _without_ the 'queen bee' status. The last thing she ever told me was that she wanted to be proud of me. She passed away a couple weeks later. After all the hurt and pain from the grief went away, I remembered her words and I started to let the real Alison come out. I tried to become someone my mom would be proud of." She sniffled, took a deep breath and turned to face Emily. "What you told me earlier, about the person you've gotten to know, that's the person my mom would be proud of. Thank you for seeing me."

Emily gave Alison a genuine smile. She looked into Alison's eyes and she wanted to drown in them. They were as blue as the ocean and Emily wanted nothing more than to dive in. Before she knew it, she was leaning in towards Alison again. Alison made it as far as an inch away before _again_ breaking the contact between them and beginning to walk away.

"We're going to miss the last train back to Rosewood."

Emily felt her emotions begin to boil over. She knew that she wasn't misreading everything that had happened today. She could see in Alison's eyes that the blonde wanted this just as much as Emily did. She decided she needed to confront Alison about it before they got to the train station. She wasn't going back to Rosewood without answers.

"Ali, what are we doing? This is the 2nd time tonight!"

Alison could hear the frustration in Emily's voice. She had so much fun today. She didn't want the day to end. It had been perfect, even her mini breakdown that made her feel more for Emily than she thought possible at this point. Perfect coffee, a perfect nap in the brunette's arms, perfect dinner, a perfect theater date, and it all ended with this perfect walk through the park. But, she didn't know if she was ready to do what she _really_ wanted to do right now. She wanted to take Emily in her arms and kiss her. She wanted to kiss her more than she's ever wanted to kiss _anyone_ before. She didn't know what it meant. She had never been with a woman before. She had never been _attracted_ to another woman before. But Emily always seemed to have a pull on her. She had realized that those feelings back in high school had been because she was _attracted_ to the brunette. When she saw those pictures of Emily with that boy in Texas, she realizes now that she was jealous. _So_ insanely jealous. _She_ wanted to be the one in Emily's arms. But she wasn't _gay_. She didn't like _all_ women, or even _some_ women. She only liked _one_ woman.

"I'm _not_ gay, Emily!" She threw her hands up in the air as she turned around to face the brunette.

Emily gave her a sad smile. "And that's ok. No one said that you had to be."

"I'm just so confused. I've already hurt you so much! I don't want to do it again! I care about you too much!"

Emily walked over to Alison and grabbed both of her hands. "I know. It can be confusing, and scary. But I'm here for you. I care about you too and I'm not going anywhere unless you want me to."

Alison's gaze dropped to her feet. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "I never want you to leave."

Emily curled her finger under Alison's chin and brought her gaze back up to her own. "Then I'll stay. But I need you to be honest. Be honest with yourself and be honest with me. I like you Alison. I _really_ like you. And being with you today has been one of the best days of my life. And I _really_ think that today is pretty high up there on your list, too. It's ok if you don't have it all figured out. I'll never force you to be who you aren't. But I want you to be comfortable enough with _me_ to not be afraid to show how you're feeling."

Alison looked into Emily's eyes and for the second time tonight, only saw truth and honesty. She felt like a hundred butterflies were flying around in her stomach and her heart felt like it were going to beat out of her chest. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and released it before looking back into those gorgeous chocolate orbs. "I really want to kiss you right now."

Even though Emily stood her ground, she gave a slight nod of her head to let the blonde know that she had consent if she wanted to kiss her. After two failed attempts already today, however, she decided to let Alison control this moment. She didn't want to scare her off yet again.

Alison swallowed and licked her lips nervously. She grabbed Emily's hands again and pulled her in closer to her body. Emily smiled at her and Alison couldn't help but smile back. She leaned up towards the slightly taller brunette and placed a soft kiss onto her lips. For Alison, she felt like all time immediately stopped. She felt a tingling sensation that started at her lips and then shot throughout the rest of her body. The kiss had ignited a need in her. A need that made her never want to be away from the brunette. A need that made her never want to stop kissing her. She leaned back and looked into Emily's lit up eyes and gave her a smile that made her dimples pop. Emily smiled back, before Alison's lips came crashing back to hers.

As their lips moved together, Alison let go of Emily's hands and brought her arms up to Emily's neck. Emily's hands wandered to Alison's waist and she pulled her in impossibly close to her own body. Alison moaned into Emily's mouth at the physical closeness they now experienced and Emily took advantage and slipped her tongue into the blonde's mouth. Their tongues fighting for dominance, Alison took her hands and tangled them into Emily's raven locks. Alison swallowed a moan from Emily's mouth as Emily's hands gained some confidence and wandered towards Alison's backside, giving it a little squeeze.

Alison had never felt more alive than she did in that moment. Being there with Emily, feeling their lips connected and their tongues exploring new found territory, she had never experienced anything like that in her life. She could feel how much Emily cared for her in that kiss. No one had ever conveyed that to her before, especially not her ex-husband. Alison finally, reluctantly, pulled back from the kiss and rested her forehead on Emily's. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, just enjoying the moment with each other.

Eventually, Emily broke the silence. "Come on, we really are going to miss the last train home or else we're going to have to get a hotel room for the night."

Alison looked back at her with a cheeky grin. "Wouldn't be the worst way to end this evening." She threw in a wink at Emily that made the brunette roll her eyes.

"Come on," she stated as the intertwined her hand with Alison's and headed back towards the train station.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Happy Friday everyone! Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed and followed this story so far. I am going to try to work some of the ideas from the reviews into the story in the next couple of chapters. I hope you guys are still enjoying this! Have a great weekend everyone!**

They were settled into their seats and were headed back to Rosewood. Emily had her left arm wrapped around Alison's shoulders, holding her close. Alison was curled up into Emily's side, her right hand resting lightly on Emily's thigh, her other hand playing absentmindedly with the fingers of the brunette's free hand. They rode in silence for the first 10 minutes of the trip, but neither woman minded. They were just enjoying being close to one another.

Honestly, Emily was still a little shocked at how the evening had played out. She was nervous after Alison's breakdown before dinner and her avoiding the kiss that was imminent between them. She thought that the evening would be a bust and everything they had built so far would be lost. But Alison was the one that broke the silence and brightened the mood. They had incredible conversation before and throughout dinner and Emily couldn't remember the last time that her face hurt from smiling so much. The smile never left her face at the table. Alison DiLaurentis made her smile like no one else ever had before. She felt like a love struck teenager all over again. She just couldn't get enough of the blonde snuggled up to her side. She rested her head against Alison's and breathed in the scent of her vanilla shampoo. It was quickly becoming one of her favorite scents. She gently kissed the top of Alison's head before once again resting her head against blonde hair.

Alison smiled at the subtle kiss Emily placed on her head. In fact, she had been smiling for the past 20 minutes now, ever since the kiss in the park. She was worried when they got to Philly that she had completely ruined their date before it ever really got started. Hearing Emily's story broke her heart, knowing that Emily had hurt so badly because of _her_ actions. Because of her fear to be someone _other_ than what her peers expected her to be. Alison knew that she didn't deserve Emily in the least bit, but she silently vowed that she was never going to let the brunette down ever again. She loved seeing Emily smile, and wanted to see that every day for the rest of her life.

Alison continued to sit in silence and enjoyed the feeling of protection she felt being in Emily's arms. Emily was one of the best people in her life and she wanted to be a better woman for Emily. She wanted to be that person that Emily said that she saw when she looks at her. She never wanted another day to go by without Emily in it someway, somehow. The emotions that she was feeling were a little overwhelming. She let out a sigh and nuzzled in closer to Emily's side.

"You ok?" Alison looked up and saw beautiful brown eyes staring down at her.

"Yeah," she replied as she straightened herself up on the seat. Emily frowned at the loss of closeness between the two, but Alison just smiled back at her. "Thank you, for tonight. For not turning and running in the other direction when I was a mess on the street. For the beautiful dinner conversation and amazing theater company." Emily just smiled back at Alison before placing a gentle kiss onto her temple. Alison loved the feel of Emily's lips against her skin. "And most of all, thank you for caring about me. No one has ever made me feel the way that you do, Em."

Emily's smile grew bigger than she ever imagined it could. "Thank you, too, Ali. For wanting a fresh start. For opening up to me about your mom. For trusting me enough to be honest with what you are feeling."

"I was so scared before. But now, you make me feel so protected. I know my heart is safe with you. You are a truly beautiful person, Emily Fields. Both inside and _out_."

Emily felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. "You are the most gorgeous woman I have ever laid eyes on." Emily placed a chaste kiss onto heart shaped lips of the blonde. "And I want to kiss you every day for as long as you'll let me." Emily's lips began to wander towards Alison's jaw line. "And I want to taste every inch of you whenever you are ready."

Alison dropped her head away from Emily, allowing the brunette more access. Because of the time of night, the train car was empty and Alison let a small moan fall from her mouth and Emily smiled against Alison's neck. The feelings that Emily was giving her right now were incredible. Alison moved her hand back to Emily's thigh and began rubbing small circles with her thumb. Emily continued her way along Alison's neck and eventually stopped just below the blonde's ear. She sucked on the spot lightly, and felt Alison's hand tightening its grip on her thigh. This only spurred Emily on more and she began to suck a little harder before licking the spot to soothe it. Alison's eyes rolled back at the sensation as she squeezed her thighs tightly together, trying to ease the throbbing she was beginning to feel in her core. She couldn't believe how much Emily was turning her on, but she needed it to stop, before she lost all control and they gave the conductor a show on the security monitors of the train.

"Em…" The sound came out sounding more like a moan than she had wanted. Alison opened her eyes and cleared her throat gently. "Em, you need to stop."

"Why?" The brunette asked before moving her lips and wrapping them around Alison's ear lobe.

Alison let out a shaky breathe. _Yeah, this needs to stop_ , she thought to herself. Alison shook her head slightly to clear her head and Emily finally stopped her barrage of kisses and looked into blue eyes that were a shade darker than a few minutes before. "Because I'm not going to be able to control myself in about 10 seconds if you keep that up."

Emily raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. A smirk formed on her lips as she slowly leaned in towards the blonde's neck again. She was gently pushed back by Alison. "Seriously, Em, as much as I want to, I don't want there to be an audience." She nodded subtly towards the camera in the corner of the car.

"What? You're one of the hottest women around, you'd probably make his night! I'm sure he's got a box of tissues or something up there to help him out!" Emily couldn't keep the smile off her face as Alison's face dropped, then immediately burst into laughter at the brunette's raunchiness.

Alison gently slapped her on the shoulder. "You are so bad Emily Fields! I thought you were shy when I first met you. Who would've known you'd be so sexy in the sheets?" Alison purred as she leaned over and gave Emily a peck on the lips. "Do you think you can keep yourself in check for the next 15 minutes until we get back to Rosewood?"

"I guess," Emily pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her bottom lip, pretending to be upset. She couldn't quite fight the tug at the corners of her mouth, however.

Alison noticed and just chuckled, before leaning back in and snuggling up again against Emily's side.

When they finally made it back to Rosewood, Alison looked exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open. After a few minutes of back and forth, Alison finally agreed to let Emily take her home and gave her the address. She was shocked that the blonde lived next door to the Hastings, were she had spent so much time as a kid. The ride from the station to the blonde's house was only about 15 minutes, but she still managed to drift off as they pulled out of the parking lot. As she pulled to a stop in the driveway, she gently rubbed her hand up and down Alison's arm.

"Wake up, Ali. You're home." Emily's voice was soft, not wanting to jolt the peaceful looking beauty from her slumber.

As Alison began to stir and stretch lightly, Emily couldn't help but smile at how adorable the girl looked. Alison gave her a sleepy smile and Emily couldn't remember the last time that she ever felt this happy before. She unbuckled herself and got out of the car and ran to the passenger side. She opened the door for Alison and offered her hand to help the blonde out of the car.

"Thanks," Alison said as she looked to Emily's hand before taking it lightly in her own. She got up out of the car and continued to hold Emily's hand as they headed up the walk to the front door.

"You're welcome," Emily said with a sincere smile on her face. "I'm sorry if I bored you at any point today."

Alison looked at her, confusion written all over her face.

A smirk appeared on Emily's face. "That was the second time you fell asleep on me today! I know I'm out of practice with this dating thing, but I didn't think I was that bad!"

A blush crept up Alison's neck and face. She looked horrified. "I'm so sorry! It's not like that! Like I said, I didn't get a ton of sleep last night. Someone kept invading my dreams!" Before she could stop them, the words came spilling out. She slapped her hand over her mouth as her eyes went wide.

Emily looked on in amusement at those words. "Oh yeah?" She raised an eyebrow. "And who was it that's been invading your dreams? Cause I know of a certain blonde that has been showing up in mine lately."

Before Alison could respond, Emily's lips were on hers. There was a hunger in the kiss and Alison's body temperature began to rise. Emily's tongue slid across the blonde's lower lip, begging for entrance and Alison complied, moaning into the brunette's mouth once she felt the dominance in Emily's tongue. Alison felt her body being pressed up against the front door and a heat began to rise in her core. Alison's hands flew up and tangled into Emily's long brunette hair. Emily's hands were frantically wandering, up under her shirt and raking her nails down her back. Emily's hands slid to Alison's tight ass, squeezing before sliding her hands down the back of her legs and lifting her up against the door. Moans escaped Alison's mouth as she disconnected the kiss and her head fell back into the door.

"Alison, open the door," Emily panted out between kisses she trailed down Alison's neck.

Emily dropped the blonde and turned her around in her arms, so Alison's back was in her front. Alison ground her hips back into Emily with a moan while Emily sucked on her neck from behind. Emily's hands were wandering Alison's stomach and creeping up towards her breasts. Alison's breathing was becoming labored and she was having trouble concentrating on anything other than the feel of Emily against her.

"Ali, inside, now!"

Alison was fumbling with the key in the lock. She had finally unlocked the door and was about to turn the door handle when a cold, familiar voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Well, well, well. Look what the pussy dragged in! Ladies, lovely show to put on for the neighbors! I'm sure their dicks are all hard after watching that!" Emily looked up to where she heard clapping and saw a man walking up to the porch. Emily could feel the hatred radiating off of him as he got closer. She could also smell the alcohol wafting their way from his breath.

Emily looked to Alison, completely confused about who this random guy was. Alison looked like she had just seen a ghost. Her cheeks that were just flushed with arousal a few moments ago were as white as a sheet. "Who the fuck is this asshole?"

"Tisk, tisk. Such a filthy mouth. But what can you expect when you munch dirty carpets day and night?" He seemed a little unsteady on his feet and his speech was beginning to slur slightly. Emily wondered just how much he had had to drink before coming here. She also hoped that he hadn't driven in his state!

"What the fuck did you say?" Emily was ready to beat the shit out of this guy, but she had no idea who he even was! She narrowed her eyes at him, but he just looked back at her with an evil smile.

Alison was standing against the door, with her arms wrapped protectively around her torso. She was looking down at the porch, not looking at either one of the people standing in front of her.

The man looked passed Emily towards the blonde. "Alison, come back to me. I know I can satisfy you more than this lesbian can! How are you supposed to get off with her? She doesn't even have a dick for you to ride!"

Suddenly it all clicked into place for Emily. "So you're the cheating, lying scumbag ex-husband? Alison doesn't want you here, so you should leave before someone calls the cops."

"NOT YET! The divorce isn't final yet! But you are just her dirty dyke little play thing to pass the time!" He spat at her with venom in his voice.

Emily was completely floored by what she was hearing! She took a step closer to the man with her fists balled at her sides. "You can't talk to her like that!" Emily screamed in his face. "She told me all about you and that bitch of a best friend she used to have! How could you treat her like that? How could you break such a beautiful soul?" Emily was fuming now. She _hated_ this man for what he did to Alison.

"And now she's cheated on me too!" He turned his attention back to Alison again. "So now we're even! Now we can be together again!"

"She doesn't want you!" Emily spat at him.

"She doesn't want you, either! How could she? She's not a dyke!"

"Em, maybe you should go." It was the first thing that Alison had said since this man had interrupted them. Emily's head shot in Alison's direction and her eyes went wide. She still was looking down at the porch, so Emily wasn't sure if she had even heard correctly.

"What?"

"You heard her, you should leave!" She _really_ wanted to punch this guy in the face!

"Emily, please, just go." Emily looked into Alison's face and was met with icy blue eyes staring back at her. It reminded Emily too much of the Alison from high school.

"Why? So you can let this asshole back into your life?" Emily was beginning to get frustrated. She also started to feel her heart beginning to break all over again. She ran her fingers through her hair and continued before Alison could answer. "You know what, _Alison_? You spent the better part of the last month and a half trying to convince me that you had changed! Trying to convince me that you wanted a fresh start! And you know what? I fell for it! I was a complete idiot. You haven't changed one bit since high school! And you know what's worse? I didn't just fall for your lies! I was starting to fall for you!"

As Emily turned to walk away, she noticed a police car pulling up to the curb. She ignored the officer calling out to her and got into the driver seat of her car. She banged on the steering wheel before starting the car. She pulled away as fast as she could, watching the blonde's house grow smaller in the rear view mirror as tears began to fall freely down her cheeks.

"Someone called the cops, ma'am. Something about a disturbance?" The officer was standing on the porch, trying to figure out what was going on. Alison looked up and saw him looking between herself and Elliot. Elliot was standing there like an idiot gently swaying from the alcohol.

"The only disturbance was the lez fest on the porch here, officer." Alison never thought that she could hate Elliot any more than she already did, but after tonight, she loathed the very _existence_ of him. She wanted to make him pay for what he said to Emily. _Oh God! Emily!_ How was he going to fix this?! She stood here frozen while the brunette defended her tooth and nail to the scumbag that she used to share this house with. And then she just kicked her out? _God, what is wrong with you?!_ She hated the person she became around Elliot. If Alison was being honest, she knew her marriage was over before she ever caught Elliot in bed with CeCe. She knew that they wouldn't last. But again, it was what she thought that people wanted from her. She thought that her mom would be proud of her with the handsome husband and little kids running around.

It wasn't until Emily Fields came back into her life that she realized she really _could_ be happy with someone. Yeah, it wasn't with a man, like she expected, but she couldn't deny her feelings for Emily. _Wait, had Emily really said she was falling for me?_ Alison tried to replay Emily's words in her head. Alison could feel her heart begin to crack. _Stupid, stupid girl! You're such an idiot! She's right, you haven't changed! And you never will!_ The self-loathing voice was back. It wanted to take root in her again. Show her how shitty of a person she really was to everyone. And Alison wanted to allow it to settle in. After all, she felt like she deserved it.

"Ma'am…" the officer's words brought Alison back from her thoughts. "What do you want us to do?"

"I want him off of my property. And I don't want him to ever come back!"

With that, the officer escorted Elliot off the property and into the back of the police car to take him home. The officer came back with a card and handed it to Alison. The officer's name was Toby Cavanaugh. "Call us in the morning if you want to put out an order of protection on him."

"Thank you. We go to court on Monday to finalize our divorce, so I don't think that will be necessary. Thank you again, though."

Officer Cavanaugh tipped his hat to Alison. "'Night, ma'am."

Alison made her way through the front door and leaned against it as it closed. All of the emotions she had felt today came raging to the surface. She slid down the door as sobs racked her body. She felt like she had messed up the only good thing in her life. She laid down on the floor and pulled her knees tightly into her chest. She felt like she couldn't move. She felt numb, and weak. She called out Emily's name over and over until her voice was hoarse. Eventually, her body succumbed to exhaustion and Alison drifted off into a fitful slumber in her front foyer.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey everyone! I was hoping to get this up last night, but didn't have time to edit it until this morning. I hope you are all still enjoying this. Thank you so much for the kind reviews! Have a great day everyone! Reviews as always are welcome!**

Emily woke up early Sunday morning with a pounding headache. She glanced over at the clock telling her that it wasn't even 7 a.m. She groaned as she rolled over and got out of bed to use the bathroom. Her eyes were puffy and she had to admit to herself that she looked like shit when she looked in the mirror. She didn't get home from Alison's until a little after 12:30, but she had no clue how long she cried for until she finally fell asleep. Her mouth felt extremely dry, though. She splashed some cold water onto her face before grabbing a glass and filling it with cold water. She emptied the glass before refilling it and headed back out to her bedroom. She put the glass down on her night stand and plopped herself back down onto the bed. She grabbed the covers and pulled them tightly over her head, trying to block out both the sunlight and her thoughts.

Looking back, yesterday was perfect. Everything about yesterday felt so natural and normal. Emily was so comfortable with Alison, that spending basically an entire day together felt like they had been doing it for years. Their conversation flowed, but even when it didn't, the silence was comfortable. Everything was going great. Until that jackass showed up. God, Emily _hated_ that man! She didn't understand how someone could do that to someone like Alison.

Emily gave out a heavy sigh as she threw the covers off of herself. She didn't mean for her words to sound as harsh as they had last night. She knew that Alison had changed. She learned last night that change was hard for Alison. But she knew that the blonde had changed, _because_ of her, and deep down, Emily felt that she changed _for_ her. She couldn't help but think that maybe her suspicion was right. _Ugh, why did you say those things?_ Emily was internally screaming at herself. She knew how much Alison was hurt by her past. After everything Emily had told her about how she forgave her and she needed to forgive herself, Emily just went and rubbed her face into her past! She felt like such an idiot!

But she also felt unbelievable pain last night. After their walk through the park, Emily realized that she had been slowly starting to fall in love with the blonde haired beauty. When Alison just stood there and let Elliot talk to her the way that he was, she felt like the old Alison was back. And the coldness in the blonde's stare. It was too much for Emily to take. She couldn't help it, but she was transported back. She saw the face of Noel Kahn on that porch. With Alison just standing by and not doing anything about to stop him from spewing his hatred. Emily thought that Alison had healed her heart from that, but really she had pulled the wound back open and now it was a gaping hole.

Emily didn't know what to do. She wanted to run to the blonde, tell her she was sorry for the nasty things she told her. Tell her that she didn't mean them and she didn't want her to hate herself. But on the other hand, her heart felt too weak. The wound felt too fresh. Her head was starting to spin as she tried to figure out what to do. She pulled the covers back over her head and hoped that sleep would once again take over her body.

Alison awoke to a wave of nausea hitting her like a freight train. She was confused for a second, finding herself on the couch, and ran to the kitchen as fast as she could before vomiting into the kitchen sink. Heaves racked Alison's body for what felt like hours, when in reality it was about 5 minutes. But she felt exhausted afterwards. Thankfully, the sink had been empty, so Alison turned on the water and ran the garbage disposal. She grabbed a glass and drank it slowly with shaking hands. When she was done, she put the glass down and grabbed onto the counter top tightly as her head began to spin. Once it cleared, she looked at the clock on the microwave. It was a little before 7 a.m.

 _She woke up with an ache through her entire body. She noted the hard surface she was on, and figured she must have fallen asleep at the front door. She debated on just staying where she was, but eventually crawled over to the couch and climbed under one of the blankets. Fresh tears fell from her eyes once she remembered why she had been on the floor in the first place. She hated herself, absolutely_ detested _the way that she had treated Emily. Her sweet Emily. She didn't deserve those vile things that Elliot had said to her. She didn't deserve Alison pushing her out the door._ God, she could have her arms around me right now _, she thought. But instead, she's lying on the couch, sobbing into her pillow, all because she's too much of a coward to stand up to the asshole who slept with her best friend and got pushy with her a time or two when he had been drinking like he had been last night._

 _Her body had hurt so badly. Her heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces. She realized lying on the cold, wood floor calling out for Emily that she had been falling in love with the brunette, as well. No one ever made her feel as special as Emily had. No one ever made her laugh or smile the way that she had. And God,_ no one _made her feel more aroused than Emily Fields had last night. Emily was one of the sexiest people that Alison had ever met in her life. The way that things were going, Alison was sure that her dream would come true and she would have ended the night writhing and moaning underneath the brunette. Alison could feel herself getting aroused just thinking about all the things Emily was making Alison feel on the train and porch. She sniffled and took a couple deep breathes to steady her breathing. She remembered the feeling of being pressed up against the door. She wondered if Emily could feel her heat against her stomach._

 _As if it had a mind of its own, her hand began to wander south. She was still in her dress, so she pulled it up slightly and slid her hand down into her panties. She ran a finger up and down her folds, marveling at how wet she was._ This never happened with Elliot _. She imagined her dream. She imagined it was Emily's right hand disappearing between their bodies as she quickly worked circles on her clit. Alison just needed to feel_ something _other than pain right now. She slipped 2 fingers inside of herself as she remembered the feeling of Emily sucking on the spot right below her ear. She moaned out as she brought her free hand up and gently ran her fingers over the spot. Alison's hips began to buck as she began to feel her orgasm build. She took her hand from her neck and moved it down to her clit as she continued to slip in and out with her other hand. She went back to the moment of having her back pressed into Emily's front. Those few blissful seconds when Alison was grinding her ass back into Emily's center while Emily's grip on her hips tightened and pulled her closer. Alison was working furiously now, her walls tightened around her fingers and her body began to convulse as her orgasm came crashing through her. Once she rode out the pleasure, she pulled her hands out of her panties, pulled the blanket up tight to her chin and gave in to the fresh tears that collected in her eyes. For the second time that night, she cried herself into a fitful sleep._

She had felt ashamed for what she did. But she couldn't take the pain and self-hate anymore. As soon as she came down from her high, her self-hatred grew. She felt like such a worthless person who couldn't even control her libido! She knew that she royally fucked up. Emily deserved so much better from her than what Alison gave her last night. She decided that she needed more sleep, so she grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and her cell phone from her purse and headed upstairs to her bedroom. She put the glass down and plopped onto the bed. She grabbed her phone to check her notifications. No messages, no missed calls. _Seems about right_ , she thought. Her self-loathing was coming back tenfold and she didn't know how to stop it. Fresh tears were stinging her eyes. She opened up the messages tab and found the brunette's thread. She just wanted to apologize. She wanted to try and fix it. Even if she couldn't, she needed to at least try. She knew that Emily deserved at least that much.

 **I'm sorry**

That was all she could say. She didn't even know if Emily would ever respond to her ever again. She hoped that she would, but she knew she didn't deserve it and would probably just fuck it all up again. Frustrated, she ran her fingers through her hair and fell back onto the bed and shut her eyes tight.

Emily heard the ping of her cell phone go off. She groaned and threw the covers off of herself again and grabbed her phone. Her heart stopped when Alison's name popped up on the screen. She didn't know if she was ready to deal with this just yet. She took a deep breath and opened her messaging app. _I'm sorry_. That's all that there was.

 **Why?**

Emily wasn't sure exactly _what_ Alison was apologizing for. She wanted to know, but had no idea what she had done wrong last night to deserve being kicked to the curb after defending Alison to her drunk soon to be ex-husband.

 **Everything**

Something felt off to Emily. She couldn't really put her finger on it, but something about Alison's messages sent chills down her spine and gave her goose bumps. Yeah, they had fought last night, but Emily wasn't used to such short responses from the blonde. _Maybe this is just the way Alison is when she is upset?_

 **Are you ok?**

Emily sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her heart began to race as she noticed that the message was received, but no bubbles popped up indicating that a response was being typed back. She sat and stared at the phone in her hands. After a few minutes, she typed another message.

 **Alison?**

"Why'd you have to do that to her?" She was chastising herself out loud as she stood up and tried to find a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt to throw on over her underwear and sports bra.

 **Ali, answer me, please?**

Emily's breathing was becoming shallow as she began to panic more. After seeing the look of pure brokenness and devastation in Alison's eyes yesterday in Philly, she wasn't sure what the blonde would do, but she hoped with all her being that Alison wouldn't do anything to hurt herself. The wait for an answer was driving Emily crazy. She was pacing back and forth in her room, staring down at her phone.

 **I'm really worried now. Are you ok?**

Emily stopped pacing immediately when the bubbles appeared under her last message. Finally, Alison was responding! She felt hope for a second, before being deflated once again when Alison's message came through.

 **No**

Emily felt like she was just kicked in the gut. _No?_ Emily flew out of the house as quickly as she could, ignoring the questioning look of her mother as she asked her where she was going. Emily was out the door and into her car at lightning speed. She made her way to the blonde's house as fast as the speed limits would allow her (which was not _nearly_ fast enough, in her panic-stricken opinion). She raced up the sidewalk and onto the porch before knocking and calling Alison's name.

Emily saw the curtain in the window next to the door move and the door slowly opened. Alison had a look of confusion on her face as she slipped out of the door and onto the porch.

"What are you doing here?"

Emily took in the blonde in front of her and her heart absolutely broke. Her normally bright, brilliantly blue eyes were dull and the whites were bloodshot. The area around her eyes was swollen and puffy and had makeup stains down her cheeks. She looked like she hadn't slept at all last night and had been crying for most of it. Emily wanted to wrap Alison up in her arms and tell her everything was going to be ok, but as she took a half a step forward, Alison recoiled and stepped back, like an injured animal afraid of being hurt worse.

Emily furrowed her brow as she tried to hold back her emotions. "I wanted to make sure you were ok. Are you?"

Alison gave her a sad laugh and avoided looking at Emily in the eye. "No, not at all. But it's just how my life goes."

"What's wrong?" Emily wanted to reach out again to Alison, but stopped herself. She ducked her head to try to force Alison to look her in the eye.

This time, Alison looked her straight in the eye and fresh tears came spilling down her face. "What isn't wrong? Look at me, my life is a mess! Just when I thought that things would _finally_ start looking up for me, something happens and I ruin it!"

This time, the brunette did reach out and grabbed Alison's hand. When Alison didn't retract it, Emily smiled and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You didn't ruin anything," she said with a sad smile.

"Yeah, I did. I really haven't changed at all, you said so yourself."

Emily felt horrible that Alison was feeling this way because of her. "Alison, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I know you've changed. You aren't the same person anymore. I know that. I'm sorry, just the whole thing caught me off guard."

"Yeah, I didn't expect him to show up. He caught me off guard, too." Alison let go over Emily's hand and ran her fingers through her hair. She was back to avoiding eye contact with Emily. "Look, it's been a long night, I just want to take a bath and try to relax. I have papers I need to catch up on. Thank you for stopping by, but you really didn't have to."

"I care, so I did have to." Alison just gave Emily a said smile. "Go try to relax. I'll at least see you tomorrow, right?"

"I'm taking a personal day tomorrow. Maybe Tuesday, too."

"What's going on? Ali, talk to me, please?" Emily was pleading with Alison now. She hadn't really gotten any answers from Alison since she's been here, other than that she could tell the blonde was in an extremely bad head space at the moment. She still hadn't been able to shake that feeling that something was extremely off with the blonde.

Alison looked into Emily's eyes now. Emily saw nothing but sadness. Alison leaned up on her tip toes and placed a soft kiss on Emily's cheek. Emily closed her eyes and tried to savor the moment. Something inside of her felt like she wasn't going to feel those lips for a very long time. "Your life would have been so much better if I had never been in it. Go be happy, Emily."

"Al-"

Emily was cut off by Alison turning around and walking back inside. Fresh tears slid down Emily's cheeks and after standing there for a few minutes hoping Alison would open the door again, she headed back to her car and started the engine. Inside, Alison watched from the window, her vision blurred with tears, as the one person she thought would ever make her happy again drove away down the street.

The next morning, Alison woke up nauseous again. Her head was spinning and her body felt completely drained. But this time, she didn't have time to go back to sleep until she felt better. The stress that she had been under these past few days had been really getting to her. She just wanted everything over with. She wanted Elliot out of her life. She just wanted things to be ok with Emily. She hoped that after today, one of those things would happen and she could maybe, possibly work on the other.

Yesterday had been agony. She had no idea why she let Emily leave her porch, but for the second time in less than 12 hours, she did. She felt that being in Emily's life would only bring the brunette pain. She felt like a total and complete mess and she thought that she would only bring Emily down. That voice was back, telling her that she didn't deserve the brunette or any of the love that she gave her. Watching Emily drive away was one of the hardest things that Alison had done. At the time, she felt that Emily's life would be so much better off without Alison in it. But as her car disappeared around the corner, Alison's heart broke even further dreading the fact that Emily might be gone forever. She had spent the next 2 hours of the day curled up in a ball on her bed sobbing into her pillow until she finally drifted off to sleep. By the time she woke up it was late afternoon, so she got up and made herself a light dinner before grading papers until a little after 10. Sleep had come to her eventually, but it had been restless. Now here she was, feeling like shit and getting herself dressed to go get divorced.

By the time she made it to the courthouse, she was still feeling dizzy, nauseous and light headed. She just needed this day to be over with. She wanted to go home and sleep the rest of the day away. She was even considering taking tomorrow off too so she would only have to deal with three days of work this week. She didn't feel like she could deal with any more than that. The hearing didn't take long, and thankfully, she had drawn a good judge who didn't take kindly to cheating husbands who turned around and accused their wives of cheating. She was also pleasantly surprised to find out that officer Cavanagh had submitted the police report from the incident on Saturday to the court. Alison found out that he had interviewed the next door neighbor (Veronica Hastings) who called in the disturbance after hearing the majority of the argument after taking the trash out to the curb. Alison silently thanked them for that. The judge saw right through her scumbag ex-husband's lawyer's plot to twist everything around on Alison. The judge granted the divorce, allowed Alison to keep the house and denied Elliot's request for spousal support.

Alison was relieved when she got up to leave. She was finally free of him and could go home and rest. She shook her lawyer's hand and thanked him for all of his help. As she turned away to leave, her vision became extremely blurry and she got a ringing in her ears. Everything in her head felt fuzzy and she couldn't feel her body. She remembered feeling like she was falling away before her world went black.

She could hear an incessant beeping that wouldn't go away. She had no idea what it was or where it was coming from. The last thing she remembered was being in the court room, saying her thanks to her lawyer. Then she remembered and she groggily opened her eyes. She squinted against the bright lights, but knew instantly she was in a hospital ER. She had wires and tubes attached to her at various points in her body. She was surrounded by curtains on either side of her, and even though the third curtain was partially closed, she could see a desk with nurses sitting at it about 20 feet in front of her.

"Mrs. Rollins, you're awake!" A man dressed in scrubs with a British accent came into her partitioned off room. "I'm Dr. Kingston. How are you feeling?"

"DiLaurentis," Alison croaked out. Her throat felt extremely dry and raw.

"I'm sorry?" Dr. Kingston asked, his brow furrowed.

This time, Alison swallowed hard trying to wet her throat. She looked to her side and noticed a table with a Styrofoam cup and a small pitcher of water on it. She went to reach for the cup, but the doctor knew what she wanted and ran over, filled her cup and handed it to her. She took a sip through the straw before continuing. "Thank you. My last name isn't Rollins, it's DiLaurentis. I just finalized my divorce this morning."

Dr. Kingston gave her a tight lipped smile. "Right, sorry, about the name and divorce."

Alison chuckled lightly. "Don't be, I'm glad to be finely rid of the prick."

Dr. Kingston let go of a hearty chuckle and smiled at Alison. "Right, Ms. DiLaurentis. How are you feeling?"

"My head is pounding and these lights are blinding, but other than that I feel so-so. What happened?" Alison wanted to know exactly had caused her to faint at the courthouse.

"You fainted at the courthouse and you were brought here by ambulance. We suspected that you were suffering from extreme exhaustion and dehydration. The headache should go away with some fluids and rest. I can bring you a Tylenol if you'd like. That's the only type of pain medication I can offer you though."

Alison wondered if that had been why she had been feeling so crappy these past few weeks. "Yeah, I haven't really been feeling that good recently. And for a few mornings this past week I've woken up extremely sick."

"Yes, those can all be signs of dehydration and exhaustion, but with you being unconscious when you got here, we also drew some blood and ran a few tests. Now, I don't know how this news is going to come to you, but I have to tell you that a pregnancy test of your blood came back positive." Dr. Kingston had a sympathetic smile on his face.

"W-what?" Alison was in complete disbelief of what she just heard.

"Congratulations, you're going to be a mother."

Alison's jaw dropped. How was this even possible? Her and Elliot hadn't even been together in just over 2 months. Had she really been that oblivious that she hadn't even remembered when her last cycle was? She tried to rack her brain, but her head hurt too much to come up with a date.

"I'm going to have an ultrasound tech come in so we can narrow down how far along you are." Dr. Kingston headed for the door.

"T-thank you, doctor." Alison gave him a sad smile as he headed out the door. Alison rested her head against her pillow as she tried to take in everything that had happened today. She placed her hand over her stomach and closed her eyes. _What am I going to do now?_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey guys! Happy Wednesday. So I wrote this chapter, and then realized it was going to be SUPER long, so I decided to break it up. Good news for you is that you'll get the next chapter tomorrow! So there won't be so long of a wait! I have to warn though that there is something revealed that may be a trigger for some people, just letting you all know. I also have to apologize because I didn't realize until last chapter that what I was using for breaks in the story on Word wasn't showing up here. So hopefully it hasn't been too confusing for you guys. I've fixed it now and just use some XXX's to show a break or time jump in the story. Please, let me know what you guys thing. Next chapter is just going to be all Emison trying to figure out their relationship. I'm pretty excited for the next few chapters, actually. As always, thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoy. Please let me know what you think in the reviews!**

 ****Tigger warning****

Alison had been sitting in the bay of the ER for about an hour staring at the ceiling. Her mind was racing with everything that had happened in the last 72 hours. She had no idea how to even _begin_ to feel about it, but she knew that she wished Emily were by her side right now. She was sad and angry, but mostly, she was scared. How in the hell was she going to take care of a baby? She couldn't even take care of herself right now! This wasn't how she had envisioned starting a family. She wanted to be married, be in love, have a partner to share in it all with. Now she was divorced, single and an emotional train wreck. She just wanted someone right now to tell her that everything would be all right. She looked across the room and saw her purse and jacket sitting on a chair at the far corner of the bay. She wondered if she was able to get out of bed on her own or not. She wanted her phone to text Emily. However, as she was about to grab the blanket and push it aside, the sound of the curtain opening made Alison stop. The ultrasound technician came into her bay pushing the machine with a smile on her face.

"Ok, Mrs. Rollins, my name's Carrie. How about we get a look at your baby?"

Alison cleared her throat. "It's DiLaurentis, please, not Rollins. But you can call me Alison, if you don't mind?"

Carrie smiled back at her. "Sure thing, dear. Now, go ahead and lay back and pull your shirt up some." As Alison complied, Carrie took a paper towel and tucked it into the waist band of the dress pants Alison was wearing. "Now, I'm going to put some of this gel on you. It's been in the warmer, so it shouldn't be cold."

Alison flinched a little as the warm gel hit her stomach. She felt that it tickled a little. Carrie took the ultrasound head and spread the gel around as she turned on the monitor to the ultrasound machine. A black and white picture came into focus on the screen. Alison could see a little kidney bean-looking form on the screen with little arms and legs sticking out. Alison's mouth dropped open at the sight of a little person growing inside of her. She watched in awe as Carrie clicked away at different points around the baby on the screen. Alison assumed she was taking measurements, but Carrie was clicking away so fast that Alison wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

"Do you know when your last menstrual cycle was?" Carrie asked while still clicking and pointing at the screen.

"Ummm, I don't, I'm sorry. These last couple months have been a blur. I started as the department head at school and I just went through a divorce, and I guess with the stress of it all I didn't even notice that I had skipped a cycle." Alison's face became flushed with embarrassment. She was glad that Carrie wasn't looking at her at the moment.

"Don't be. It happens more than you think." Carrie gave Alison a sad smile before adding, "sorry to hear about your divorce."

"Thank you, it was long overdue." Alison gave a tight-lipped smile back.

"Do you remember when the last time you had intercourse was?"

Alison remembered it too well.

 _It was a late night in early August. Alison and Elliot were on their way home from a cookout and bonfire at CeCe's house. Elliot had been drinking excessively that day and was in a foul mood by the time they got in the car together. He started in on her about spending the last couple of days in her classroom at school getting ready for the year instead of home with him. The previous day, Alison was late coming home and Elliot had berated her for not having his dinner ready for him by 6 o'clock. Alison drove home, giving him little to no responses to his various accusations that he was throwing at her, which made him even angrier._

 _Alison walked through the door first, kicked off her shoes and headed into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before heading upstairs. She heard Elliot lock the front door and his heavy footsteps told her that he was coming into the kitchen behind her. As she closed the fridge, she felt his hands on her hips._

 _Alison slipped out of his grasp and made her way out of the kitchen. "I'm going to bed now."_

 _Elliot put a hand on her shoulder and spun her back around. "No, you're not. We're not done here."_

 _His face was inches from hers and she could smell the Jack Daniels on his breath mixed with beer. His eyes were glazed over and bloodshot. They were also extremely dark. Alison knew that look and knew that tonight wasn't going to end well if she pushed him too far. "Yes, we are done. You're drunk. You need to go to sleep." This time, Elliot allowed Alison to leave and she made her way upstairs._

 _In their bedroom, she got dressed and crawled into bed as Elliot came into the room. She was relieved when he changed and went into the master bathroom._ Maybe tonight he'll just sleep it off _, Alison silently hoped. When the light shut off and he came into the room, she knew that wasn't going to be the case. She could see through his boxers that he was already hard. He made his way over to his side of the bed and got under the covers. Alison tried to roll away to have her back face him, but even in his drunken state he was faster that she was. As soon as he noticed movement he moved on top of her in one swoop. She tried to push him off her, but he grabbed her hands and pinned them to the bed above her head._

 _"Elliot! Stop!" Alison mustered every ounce of will inside her to keep her voice from breaking._

 _"Darling, it's been weeks! You're my wife. You WILL please me whenever I want!" He was much stronger than she was, and was easily able to pin her down to the bed. He took both her wrists in one hand and used his other hand to slide her panties down her thighs. He then pulled his boxers down some._

 _"Elliot! I SAID STOP!" She was screaming in his face now and she was using all her strength to get away from him._

 _A rage flashed in his eyes that she had only seen once before, but it scared the shit out of her. He took his now free hand and slapped her hard across the face. Her eyes immediately welled with tears at the stinging of her face. She just hoped that it wouldn't leave a mark in the morning. Usually when he got pushy he would only leave bruises in places that could easily be hidden._

 _"SHUT UP, BITCH! SHUT UP AND TAKE IT LIKE THE WHORE YOU ARE!"_

 _With that, Elliot slammed into Alison, the pain knocking the wind right out of her. She knew it was useless to fight back. She stared at the lamp on the bedside table as he pumped in and out of her, his pace quickening as he got closer to his release. Once he was done, he let her wrists go and rolled off her, afterwards spitting out a vile "G'night, sweetheart, love you" that was dripping with venom. She immediately rolled with her back to him and pulled her knees into her chest as her stomach churned at his words. She laid there, motionless for about a half hour until she was sure that he was asleep. Then, she got up and headed for the guest bathroom where she turned on the shower, slid down the wall, and cried until there were no more tears to cry._

Alison had to hold back her tears at the memory of that night. "Ummmm, the first weekend in August, I believe."

Carrie rolled her chair over and grabbed a desk top calendar off the counter behind the bed. "So that would be… Yep, that's about right! Matches up with the measurements. I'd say you're about 10 weeks along. Everything looks good so far. Would you like to hear the heartbeat?"

Alison cleared her throat. "S-sure."

Carrie flipped a switch on the machine and all of a sudden, the room was filled with the most beautiful sound Alison had ever heard. A smile immediately graced her face and Alison knew she was in love. She was so in love with this little tiny human growing inside of her that she didn't even know about until an hour ago. "Wow," Alison breathed out.

"Alright, that's it for me. I've printed out some pictures for you to keep." Carrie handed Alison 4 black and white photos of her baby with all the different little parts labeled. "The doctor will be back in shorty. It was nice meeting you. Good luck with everything!"

"Thank you, it was nice meeting you, too." Alison responded back but never made eye contact again with Carrie. Her eyes were glued to the little kidney bean shape in the photo. She gently placed her hand on her stomach and smiled gently. "I don't know how exactly we are going to make this work, but I _promise_ you that I will _always_ protect you and love you."

That self-hating voice was gone and she felt at peace for the first time in days and placed her head back against the pillow, closed her eyes and gently drifted off to sleep. She was awoken some time later when Dr. Kingston came back to check on her.

"Alight, Ms. DiLaurentis…" He stopped short when he noticed she had just woken up. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's ok, I must have nodded off. Please, call me Alison." She gave him a genuine smile. She was beginning to feel better once she got a little rest and some IV fluids in her.

"Alight, Alison. How are you feeling?"

"I'm starting to feel much better!" Alison said with a smile.

"Glad to hear it. Everything looks good with all your tests and the baby looks healthy. You're going to need to set up an appointment with an OB/GYN for prenatal care and begin taking a prenatal vitamin every day, understood?"

"Yes, thank you so much for all of your help. When can I go home?" She asked hopefully. She hated hospitals and didn't want to be here any longer than necessary.

"I'm afraid you'll have to stay overnight for observation." Dr. Kingston gave her a sad smile. "An orderly will be in shortly to take you up to your room."

Alison sighed as he left the room. She hated hospitals, but it was only one night. At least if she was in there, she didn't have to deal with life. It was just her and her baby at the moment and nothing else mattered.

XXXXX

It was Tuesday morning and Emily hadn't heard from Alison at all since Sunday morning. She knew that she had taken a personal day on Monday, but when Emily tried to call her that night, her phone went straight to voicemail. Emily went over to Alison's to make sure she was ok, but when she got there, none of the lights were on and no one answered the door. The brunette didn't get much sleep Monday night, worrying too much about Alison. Emily hoped that Alison would show up to work on Tuesday, but she did remember the blonde saying she may take two personal days this week. By lunchtime, she still hadn't seen Alison and Emily felt awful not knowing what exactly was going on.

She felt like Alison was saying goodbye to her on Sunday, and Emily didn't want that. _At all_. She was over what had happened on Saturday night. She was still hurt, but that didn't matter anymore. She just wanted to know that Alison was ok. She wanted to know if she would ever see her again. If Alison didn't want a relationship with her, that was fine. But she didn't want to lose the friendship that they had nurtured. The past two mornings, Emily had sat alone in the teacher's lounge, drinking coffee and missing the company of the blonde. For the second day in a row, her lunch was boring without Alison there to enjoy it with.

Emily was in her office afterschool prepping for practice when she overheard some of her swimmers talking about a teacher. Her ears perked up when she heard the name.

"The substitute we had today for Ms. DiLaurentis' class, Mr. Fitz, was HOT!" One of the girls said to the agreement of the other two.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind staring at him all day!" Addison chimed in.

"What happened to Ms. D, anyway?" The third girl asked the others.

"I heard she fainted at the courthouse yesterday."

"Courthouse?" The first girl asked, confused.

Addison, the school gossip hurried to answer. "Yeah, I heard her divorce is finally over with."

"Didn't she just get married like a year ago? That was fast!"

Emily went to the door of her office and cleared her throat loudly. All three girls spun on their heels and looked at their coach. "You have five minutes until practice starts, shouldn't you all be warming up? Not in here gossiping about a teacher?"

All three looked at their coach in horror and grumbled under their breath as they hurried away towards the pool. Emily quickly returned to her desk and grabbed her phone. She opened up her messaging app and wrote a quick text out to Alison.

 **I know we're not on the best terms right now, but are you ok? I heard about what happened yesterday, please, just let me know you're ok. – Em X**

Once she was done with practice, Emily rushed back to her office to check her phone. She frowned when she still hadn't gotten a reply from the blonde. She closed up her office in record time before making the decision to head over to Alison's house. When she pulled up, it was getting dark and she noticed that, again, none of the lights were on. She knew it was unlikely that Alison was home, but decided to knock on the door anyway. After a few minutes, there was no answer. Emily hung her head and began the decent down the stairs and to her car. She was about to open the driver side door when a pair of headlights pulling up out front caught her attention. She looked up and could see Alison in the back of a cab paying the driver. Emily had never been so happy to see anyone before in that moment. She fought the urge to run to Alison and pick her up in a hug. Instead, she dropped her hand from the door handle, turned her body towards Alison and began scuffing her sneakers on the driveway.

Alison walked up to Emily. "Hey…"

Emily looked into Alison's eyes and she noticed they were different. They weren't dull and hollow like they had been on Sunday. They weren't cold like on Saturday night. They looked like they had on Saturday during their dinner in Philly. And during their coffee date that morning. There was a lightness, almost a twinkle to them. Emily felt a wave of relief wash through her at that thought.

"I'm sorry to show up unannounced. I heard about what happened and you weren't answering my texts and I tried to come here last night but you weren't home. I was just worried about you. I was afraid that something happened. I was afraid that I was never going to see you again. I don't know, I just had to make sure that you were ok. I'll leave now, if you want." Emily ended her rant and looked up at Alison, who had a sad smile on her face.

"Are you done rambling, now?" Alison had her arms crossed over her chest and her hip out to one side. Emily gave her a slight nod before she continued. "I'm sorry, my phone died and everything was so crazy at the hospital, I honestly never even thought to check it."

"Oh, is everything ok, though?" Emily asked, worry apparent on her face.

"Can we go inside and talk, please?" Alison gave Emily a sad smile.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey guys. I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about this. I hope I did their talk justice. I think they have finally cleared the air and by the end, their relationship is in a much better place, I believe. Things will be looking up for them the next few chapters! Anyway, please review and I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading!**

"Y-yeah, I think that would be good."

Alison smiled and reached for Emily's hand and lead them towards the house. "Do you mind if I change real quick? These were the only clothes I had with me, so I need new ones to feel fresh." Emily shook her head no and Alison headed towards to stairs after quickly pointing to the living room and telling Emily to make herself at home. After changing into comfortable sweatpants and an oversized hoodie and running a brush through her hair, Alison headed back downstairs and into the living room. Emily was sitting at the farthest end of the couch and rested her hands on her knees. Alison took a deep breath and sat halfway between Emily and the other end of the couch. She ran her fingers through her hair and folded her hands in her lap. She looked over to Emily who was staring straight ahead at the mantle and playing with her fingers nervously.

"I want to start off by telling you how sorry I am if I've caused you any pain over the past few days. You are one of the last people I ever wanted to hurt. I really, truly am sorry." Alison turned her body towards the brunette.

Emily looked at Alison, sadness apparent in those big, brown eyes. "Why did you, then?"

The pain and sadness that she saw made Alison's stomach twist. After the amazing day they had, she really never meant to hurt Emily. "I was confused, and everything happened so fast. And then Elliot showed up and I just got scared. And my coping mechanism when I get scared is to push away the people I care about most."

"What happened with Elliot?"

"Someone heard the argument and called the cops. They took him home." A small smile crept onto Alison's face. "The officer was actually very nice. I mentioned the divorce hearing being on Monday and he dropped off a copy of the report to the judge before the trial. Helped swing the case in my favor." Alison internally thanked Officer Cavanagh one more time for all of his help. She hoped that one day she would be able to thank him properly.

"Why didn't you tell me about the court hearing?"

"I was going to at some point this weekend, but I was sick Friday morning and then, honestly on Saturday, I didn't think about him at all. My mind was consumed with you and he was the farthest thing from it. And I want to thank you for that. You have been so good to me with this whole thing. And you've made me realize that I can be happy again."

"Yeah, that can happen after a tough break up. I like seeing you happy, though." A shy smile crept onto Emily's face. "I like that I have an influence in your happiness."

Alison reached for Emily's hand. Emily looked down at their joined hands and smiled. "You really do, Emily."

Emily took a deep breath and blew it out. She had been nervous, but since they were clearing the air, Emily had to finally push for answers. "Look, Ali, I have to ask you something that's been nagging at me for a few days now. Ever since you told me about your mom Saturday night in the park."

"You can ask me anything, Em," the blonde replied with her brow furrowed.

"That day, the day after that video got sent around school of me and Paige?" Alison swallowed hard. It didn't go unnoticed by the brunette. She knew Alison didn't like talking about this, but it had to be addressed. They had been tiptoeing around it for far too long. "Before lunch that day, you and Jenna came into the bathroom, do you remember seeing me in there?"

"I do." Alison remembered the way her heart jumped when she saw the long, black hair through the crack in the stall. And then how it immediately clenched when she realized _why_ Emily was in there. She couldn't get a real good look, but she could see Emily's knees up to her chest, indicating that she was standing on the toilet seat, hiding. Hiding away because of her. Her heart ached. She had just wanted to protect Emily from everyone's harsh words. But she was a coward at the time. Maybe she still was?

"I saw something on your face. I didn't really know how to read it then, but after these past few weeks of getting to know you, I think I've figured it out." Emily noticed Alison's palm was beginning to sweat. Alison took her hand from Emily's and wiped it on her sweatpants. Emily licked her lips before continuing. "Did you regret all that stuff at the time it was happening? Did you actually care about me back then?"

Alison took a shaky breath and ran her hands through her hair again. She stared at the mantle like Emily had been earlier. She could feel Emily's eyes boring into the side of her head as she continued. "I did regret it. I didn't know why, though. Like I said, you were the first person to call me beautiful that I actually believed. But I didn't even _know_ you. And then Noel and Jenna started making fun of you and started getting on me about not wanting people to think that I was gay." She felt so ashamed that she could be so easily influenced by them. But something about Emily scared the living daylights out of her and her first instinct was to push away and run.

"Yeah, I remember Jenna saying something to you in the bathroom that day." Emily could tell that this conversation was hard for the blonde. She shifted herself on the couch to close the distance between them and reached for Alison's hand. When Alison didn't react, Emily intertwined their fingers.

Alison's eyes glanced to their hands and Emily could see a small, crooked smile form on her lips before the corners turned down once more. "Yeah, I was scared of people turning on me, like they did to you. And I was confused, because I couldn't get you out of my head. As much as I tried, you stuck with me. Even after you left, it took me a _while_ to let go."

"What do you mean?" Emily had always just assumed that Alison and her posse had moved on to the next unsuspecting victim. She secretly always thought that Paige would end up bearing the brunt of the blonde's torture.

Alison had to take two deep breaths to settle herself. She hadn't planned on telling Emily about how she followed the brunette on social media after high school. She wasn't sure at all how Emily was going to take it. Would she think that she was a stalker? Her heart was racing now and she felt like she was going to throw up. She closed her eyes and dropped her head back on her shoulders. She took a long inhale and felt her hand being squeezed tighter than before. She blew out her breath and turned her head to meet Emily's gaze.

"For a few weeks after you left, I couldn't stop thinking about you. About where you went. About what you were doing. Everyone else had moved on and no one talked about you anymore. But you consumed my thoughts. After a couple months, I broke down and found you on social media. I learned that you moved to Texas and got a second chance at high school. At first, your pictures you posted looked so sad, you looked alone. And I just felt responsible. It hurt to think that I caused that. But then eventually, you looked happy. You were the star swimmer. And you had friends. And then a _boyfriend_." Alison looked away from Emily for a moment before locking eyes with her once again. "And I know now that I was jealous _of him._ At the time, it just hurt to see someone else make you happy. Eventually, I told myself I needed to stop looking for you because I needed to move on like you had. But I was never truly happy, not until fate brought us together again in the teacher's lounge." Emily gave Alison a genuine smile and relief flooded through Alison. She squeezed Emily's hand and gave her a dimple-popping smile back.

"Saturday was amazing. All my thoughts and emotions were consumed by you. Every emotion that I was feeling in high school came to the surface, except I knew how to handle it now. But when Elliot showed up and was basically saying everything that Noel and Jenna used to spit at you, I froze. The things you said to me before you left, you were right about. I felt absolutely awful that I reverted back to that version of myself. And then I fell apart once I got inside, because I realized that I was starting to fall for you, too. And I thought that I had ruined it all." She ended with a sad smile.

"Really?" Emily was shocked at Alison's confession.

"Yeah, and I don't know what it all means. I don't even know if I can make up for all of this. I was afraid of you not wanting to be around me anymore, that's why I kind of dismissed you on Sunday. I was afraid that I would only hurt you more, and that's the last thing that I want. I'm still afraid that I'm going to hurt you more. But I know how you make me feel when I'm around you and you make me want to be the person that you see in me. I want so very much to be that person that you see when you look at me. You make me want to be better."

Emily blinked back tears that were threatening to fall. Alison had just completely opened her heart up to her and she was beginning to fall harder. Her eyes flashed to Alison's heart-shaped lips before meeting beautiful blue again. Alison smiled and Emily took a chance and leaned in. Their lips meet in a soft, chaste kiss before Alison pulled back. Emily immediately missed the feeling of Alison's lips on hers. "But there's more that you need to know about before we go any further."

"Ok…?" Emily was confused at what _else_ the blonde had to tell her.

"I woke up yesterday morning feeling like shit. But I couldn't miss the hearing, so I pushed through it. As I was going to leave I turned around and everything went fuzzy. Next thing I remember is waking up in the ER."

Emily squeezed Alison's hand. "What happened? Are you ok? Did you hit your head or anything?"

Alison let out a chuckle. "No, thankfully my lawyer had cat like reflexes to match his law skills and he was able to somewhat break my fall. My shoulder is a little sore, but nothing big. They said I was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration and I just needed a little R & R to get me back on my feet."

Emily chimed in. "Can I get you something? A drink? Something to eat?"

Alison put her other hand on top of the brunette's forearm. "Em, relax, it's my house, remember? If I need something I can get it."

Emily gave a shy smile and turned her face to avoid Alison seeing the blush creep up her cheeks. After a few short seconds and a squeeze of her hand from Alison, Emily started again. "Well, it must have been pretty serious if they admitted you. Is there something you aren't telling me?"

"Um, actually there is. Remember how on Friday I told you I was sick in the morning, that's why I missed our coffee date?"

"Yeah…" Emily wasn't sure where Alison was going with this.

"Well, it happened again Sunday and Monday mornings, too. I just chalked it up to the stress of finalizing the divorce and all that. But it turns out it was something more than that when they did my blood work."

Emily sat in silence waiting for Alison to continue. She really didn't know what to say to Alison right now.

"Em, I'm pregnant!" Alison couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

There it was, that twinkle again that Emily first saw earlier as Alison approached her in the driveway. Emily loved seeing that twinkle and it made her smile. "Really?"

"Yeah, they said I'm about 10 weeks along." Alison's dimples were popping.

Emily's face dropped. "Oh, I didn't realize that you and Elliot were still together then?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I just assumed you guys had been done for a while. The way you always talked about it, it just seemed like you guys hadn't been together for a long time." Emily wasn't sure why she was so bothered by the timeline. She had only known Alison for not even 6 weeks. And besides, nothing really happened between them until 3 days ago, so it wasn't like it was any of Emily's business anyway.

Alison noticed the change in Emily's demeanor. "I knew it was over long before it actually was. Before the whole CeCe thing, actually. But…"

"But what, Ali. I'm here."

"But the last time we, you know, was a memory I would like to forget." Tears began to fill Alison's eyes as she thought back to that night. She looked up to the ceiling, trying to blink them away.

"Why, Ali? Did he hurt you?" Emily didn't want to think about what the blonde may have gone through. Rage began to boil through her when she studied Alison's reaction.

A tear slid down Alison's cheek as her emotions spilled over. "Yeah, he was drunk and we were fighting coming back from CeCe's house. He told me it was my wifely duty whenever he wanted. I tried to stop him, but he was too strong. He, he…" She broke down into tears as she continued and eventually, wasn't to finish her sentence.

Emily knew what she meant though. Emily pulled Alison in close and held her as sobs wracked her body. She rubbed circles on her back, trying to reassure her. "Shhhhhh, I'm here. Everything's going to be ok." She placed a gentle kiss on the top of Alison's head.

They stayed like that for about 15 minutes, until Alison had finally calmed down enough. "Thanks, Em." She said through a sniffle into the crook of Emily's neck. "I want to keep it," Alison whispered, barely audible despite the closeness of her lips to Emily's ear.

"What?"

Alison spoke with a little more confidence and sat up slightly. Emily still kept her arm around Alison's back, holding her close. "The baby. I know how it got here was so fucked up, but when I saw it on the screen, and heard its heartbeat, I was in love." Alison lovingly placed her hand on her stomach and smiled. "There was this little person inside of me that I was creating. That I was connected to. Someone who would love me unconditionally. I can't give it up."

"What are you going to do?" Emily's heart sank. She didn't know what Alison wanted. It was different when it was just Alison. But now there was a baby in the mix. Would Alison want to raise the baby with another woman? Or would she rather raise the baby alone and not have to deal with the stigma? Or would it be easier to go back to Elliot? But Emily knew that, should Alison choose her to be in their lives, she would be ready. And she would be the best parent to that baby. She just didn't know if _Alison_ was ready for all of that, so she tried not to get her hopes up too much.

"About what?"

"Elliot? Are you going to tell him? Are you going to go back to him?" Emily needed space if she was about to be rejected. She stood up from the couch and rounded to the front of the coffee table.

Alison stood up and walked over towards Emily. She grabbed both her hands and held them tightly in her own. "I would never go back to him! I'm done with him. He and I were never meant to be together. And being in the hospital last night gave me a lot of time to think. I realized that even though he was so clearly wrong for me, maybe this is why he was brought into my life. Maybe this little baby was meant to be my silver lining on the storm cloud that was Elliot Rollins. He can be in the baby's life, if he wants, but we will never be a family. Wherever me and the baby are, that will be family. I'll always think of him as just the sperm donor."

Emily looked Alison straight in the eye. She needed Alison to really hear what she was about to say. "I know I promised you I wasn't leaving until you told me to, and I still mean it. I care for you. So whatever you want to do, I will be there to support you. As whatever you need me for, an ear to listen or shoulder to cry on, as someone to hold you when you're feeling scared, a shopping buddy for cute baby stuff, whether it's as a friend or more, whatever you need."

Alison had to blink back tears again. "Thank you, Em. I just need a little time to figure this all out. I need to figure out what is best for the two of us. And I don't want to put you through any more pain, so I want to be absolutely certain about what I want."

"Just know that I am here for you, ok?" Emily released Alison's hands and pulled her in for a tight embrace. She wanted to hold Alison in her arms forever.

Alison felt incredibly protected in Emily's arms. She knew what her heart wanted, but her head was telling her that Emily would just end up hurt if they were together. She needed her heart and her head to be on the same page before she committed to giving it a go with Emily. "I know. You really are amazing, Emily Fields."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey guys, happy Friday and Veteran's Day (kind of) (for all of you in the U.S.)! I just wrote this chapter while my daughter was napping and I couldn't wait to get it out to you, so here's my final update for the week! We get a little Emison and some of the aftermath of the drama, but it's mostly a Pam/Emily heart-to-heart filled chapter. I hope you all enjoy! The reviews have been awesome so far. Keep them coming! Thanks for ready and I hope everyone has a great weekend!**

The next couple of days had been odd for the brunette. Her and Alison had basically gone back to the way it was before Saturday. They met for coffee, well, decaffeinated tea for Alison, each morning and spent their lunch hour talking about anything and everything. Emily was taking a genuine interest in Alison and the baby, asking how she was feeling, making sure she was eating properly, taking her prenatal vitamins and getting enough rest.

Alison appreciated that their friendship didn't seem to suffer at all because of their falling out from the weekend. She had feared that she had ruined their relationship beyond repair, but Emily really had been amazing. She had never met anyone like Emily Fields before in her life. Over the past day or so, Alison had been having thoughts about where her and Emily would be right now if things had gone differently between them that day in high school. She had been apologizing profusely to the brunette since Tuesday, feeling even more guilty for all the pain that she put Emily through, but Emily waved it off each time. By lunch on Friday, Emily finally explained why the blonde didn't need to keep apologizing.

 _"If I didn't go through all that, I don't know if I would be as strong as I am today. I don't think I would be the same person sitting here today. Who knows? Maybe my personality would be completely different. Maybe I would have never come back to Rosewood with my mom. Hell, my personality may have been so vile and disgusting that you wouldn't even have the stomach to look at me."_

 _Emily winked at Alison, causing a small laugh to escape the blonde's lips. "I don't think there is_ any _timeline where I didn't want you in my life, Em."_

 _This caused a blush to creep up Emily's cheeks. She wanted to reach out and grab Alison's hand, but knew that the blonde needed more time and she didn't want to push too far. As much as she didn't want it to, she had to admit that her heart felt heavy when she wasn't around Alison. When they were together, ninety-nine percent of the time Emily just enjoyed the blonde's company. But when they were apart, the unknowing weighed on Emily's mind. She wanted Alison, and it hurt knowing that Alison may not end up choosing her. She understood that the baby came first in Alison's life now, and there was no way that Emily was going to fault her for that. But she wanted so badly to be a part of their lives._ Both _of their lives. As more than just a friend. She knew in her heart and her mind that she wanted Alison and everything that came with her. She just hoped and prayed that Alison felt the same way about her._

 _She was brought back to the moment by Alison's voice. "So, what are you up to this weekend?"_

 _"We have a swim invitational tomorrow that will be taking up most of my day, but other than that I don't have much else planned. You?"_

 _"Well, my brother called me last night. He's in Philly for the day on business, so he wants to meet up for dinner."_

 _"I didn't know that you had a brother. I don't remember you ever mentioning him."_

 _"Yeah, we were never very close as kids. He's 4 years older than me. Got involved with the wrong crowd in school and fell into drugs and alcohol at a young age. He was always my weird, wasted brother who hung out with his friends in his room. When our mom passed, he hit rock bottom. Took him a while to get out of it. Once he got clean though, we grew closer. Our relationship still isn't perfect, but we're getting there." Alison said with a fond smile. She was proud of Jason for how far he had come in the past couple of years. She knew how hard life was on him growing up. She knew that he was struggling, but she still resented him. She wanted a normal brother, not someone who got high and would try to hit on his sister's friends whenever they came over. Alison also knew that their father played favorites. She was a daddy's girl and she knew it. She knew her parents were disappointed in Jason and she used that to her advantage. She would often find ways to rub it in Jason's face how much of a screw up he was. If she knew Jason was lurking around, she would brag about a good test grade she got, or would ask her dad for something she knew he would give her, just to make sure how much more their father loved her over Jason. She was glad that they had been able to work past all of that. They were both completely different people now and neither one of them held a grudge towards the other._

 _"Oh, ok. Would you maybe want to get together on Sunday? Maybe grab breakfast or something?" Emily was giving Alison her best puppy dog eyes._

 _Alison let out a laugh. "How can I say no to that face?"_

By the time Emily reached her apartment building, she was exhausted. She had been pushing the girls hard this week for the invitational and had decided to stay after practice and get a few laps in herself. With everything so up in the air with Alison, she needed to let off some steam and ended up swimming for 45 minutes. She opened the door to the apartment and was met with the most amazing smell of her favorite meal being cooked by her mother. Her mom was standing at the stove, rapidly stirring vegetables in the wok while a pot of jasmine rice was cooking on the next burner.

"This smells amazing mom!" Emily said as she kicked off her sneakers and put her duffle bag down by the door. "My favorite, what's the occasion?"

Pam Fields glanced over her shoulder with a smile as she saw Emily head over to the counter, pluck a piece of teriyaki chicken out of the bowl and pop it in her mouth. "Hey, don't go eating it all before it even makes it to the plate!"

Emily laughed. "Well, maybe if it wasn't _so good_ , I wouldn't want to devour it straight out of the pan! Seriously, mom, what's the deal?"

Pam laughed along with Emily. Well, I thought that since we both have a rare night off together that we could enjoy a nice dinner. It's been a while since we've caught up."

Emily smiled at her mom. She was right, they had both had crazy schedules these past few weeks and barely saw each other anymore. "That sounds great, mom. Let me just hop in the shower real quick?"

"Ok, but hurry up, dinner will be ready in about 5 minutes!" Pam called out to Emily as she ran down the hall and shut her bedroom door behind her.

Emily emerged less than 5 minutes later in her Pepperdine hoodie and matching sweatpants with her wet hair up in a messy bun. She walked over to the cabinet and grabbed two bowls before heading to get some glasses. "You want some wine tonight, mom?"

"Sure honey, I'll take a glass."

Emily reached for two wine glasses and poured a healthy amount into each before bringing them to the table and grabbing some silverware. Pam put some rice, vegetables and chicken into each of the bowls and brought them over to the table. Emily didn't realize how hungry she was until she started digging into her stir-fry. They ate in silence for a few minutes until Pam spoke up.

"So, how's work going?"

"Great! I love most of the kids I teach, and the girls on the swim team are all really hard workers, so it's nice to coach them. They take all of my advice and are so eager to get better!"

"That's great, Emmy! I know your father would be so proud of you if he were here right now." Pam gave Emily a sad smile. Even though it had been over a year, Emily still missed her dad like crazy. He had always given her the best advice and the best hugs. When she came out to her parents in college, he was the voice of reason with her mom. Her mom took it hard, but with her dad there, Emily knew she wasn't alone and eventually her dad helped her mom to see that she was still the same daughter they had raised and loved. Their relationship was stronger once her mom accepted her for who she was.

And it grew stronger still after Wayne Field's passing. Emily knew that her mom was lonely without her dad around. She wished that she would get out and start dating. She knew that her dad wouldn't want her sitting around not living her life. Yeah, she worked and was making friends, but she never wanted to find someone _new_. But Wayne would want that for he. He would want her to find love again. To find someone to share her life with.

"So, mom, any cute guys that you work with at the police station?" Emily wiggled her eyebrows over the rim of her wine glass.

Pam's eyes went wide. "Emily Fields! You know how I feel about this kind of conversation!" She defended.

"Mom, it doesn't hurt to just meet a couple guys and go on a few dates. I'm not talking going out and marrying someone tomorrow, but it doesn't hurt to put yourself out there and see what's waiting."

"Emmy, I don't think I'm ready for that." Pam said as she began pushing the stir-fry around in her bowl.

"You know dad would want you to be _happy_ again. You know he would want you to _love_ again." Emily's eyes were pleading with her mother. She didn't like seeing her mom alone. She knew that she wasn't going to be living there forever and she didn't want to feel like she was abandoning her mom when she finally did move out on her own.

Pam huffed before taking a sip of her wine. She narrowed her eyes and peered over her glass at her daughter. "What about you? Any cute girls that you work with at the high school?" Pam wiggled her eyebrows in the same fashion Emily had to her.

All the color drained from Emily's face and she quickly took a large mouthful of wine. She looked to her mother who was smirking at her now. She didn't expect her mom to turn this around to her! She had to laugh at herself though, being beat at her own game. "Well, there is this one woman, Alison." Emily started off shyly. She looked up at her mom who was genuinely smiling at her now.

"And….?" Pam goaded Emily to continue.

"And we have been spending a lot of time together in school and we text a lot to each other."

"Is that who you are talking to when you are on your phone and a smile lights up your face?" Pam's smile was ear to ear now and it lit up her eyes. She had wondered if Emily was seeing someone with some of her actions lately, but she was waiting for the younger brunette to bring it up.

Emily felt like the heat in the apartment was on full blast. She wiped her sweaty hands on her sweatpants and took another swig of wine. "Y-yeah, but it's complicated."

"How so?"

"Well, first off, she just got divorced on Monday."

"Well, good, that means she's available." Pam smirked, trying to lighten the mood for her now-obviously-nervous daughter.

Emily looked at her mom incredulously. "Second, we kind of have a complicated past."

"What do you mean by that? Is she from here? Did you guys go to school together?"

"Yeah, we went to high school together, not middle school though. But we weren't really friends. We didn't even really talk to each other." Emily said, continuing to push around her food instead of eating it. She had suddenly lost her appetite.

"Wait, did she have anything to do with those rumors in high school?"

Emily's head shot up and her jaw dropped. "H-how? H-how did you know about those?" She was dumbfounded. How in the hell had her mom found out about that? She never told them. She kept it all bottled up inside.

Pam looked suddenly very shy. "Well, Hanna approached me one day. Said that some of the kids at school had started saying some pretty mean things about you being, well, gay and she said that the four of you were drifting apart. She said that she had tried to talk to you, but you kept telling her everything was fine. She didn't believe it though, so she wanted to ask me if I noticed anything different in you."

"What did you say?"

"I told her that you seemed fine and never said anything to me about it. Because you never said anything to us." Pam's voice broke at the last sentence.

"Why didn't you ever ask me about it?"

"Because I didn't want it to be true. I didn't want to think of you as gay. I didn't want to think that you were hurting so much over something like that. Was it true?" Tears began to form in Pam's eyes. When she looked up at Emily, she could see her jaw was clenched and she was trying desperately to hold back her own tears. She knew immediately that Hanna had been right. She felt that she had failed as a parent in that time of Emily's life. "I'm so sorry, Emmy. If I had known you were hurting, I would have tried to help. I should have asked you. I should have told your father." Tears were spilling over Pam's eyes and onto her cheeks.

Emily looked up and met her mother's wet eyes. The flash of anger that she had felt dissipated when she saw the guilt and remorse in her mother's eyes. The emotions bubbling inside her quickly came pouring out and hot tears stung her face.

Pam stood up and walked over to Emily. She knelt down in front of her and grabbed both of her hands as Emily turned to face her. "Emmy, I am so sorry that I failed you all those years ago. I am so sorry that you felt that you had to hide your life away from us. I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that alone. Please, can you forgive me?"

Sobs wracked through Emily's body as she threw her arms around her mother's neck. The truth is, she forgave her parents years ago. She knew that it wasn't their fault and that she shut them out. Emily took a few calming breathes, trying to gain her composure. Once she was calm enough, she pulled back from Pam's embrace. "Mom, it's ok. I forgave you guys a long time ago. I was good at hiding it, I should have been more honest."

Pam placed her hands on Emily's cheeks and wiped away her stray tears with her thumbs. "Promise me you'll come to me when something is bothering you? Promise you won't shut me out again?"

Emily smiled gently at her mom. "Promise."

"Good," Pam said with a firm head nod. "I think we've had enough healthy stuff, how about some ice cream and you can tell me more about Alison and why it's all so complicated?"

Emily smiled at her mom. "Only if we get to watch trashy reality tv, too."

Pam laughed at her daughter. "Anything you want, Emmy."

XXXXX

After the table was cleared and the leftovers were put away, Pam and Emily were settled on the couch with their bowls of ice cream and watching some Real Housewives of Wherever make fools of themselves.

"So, tell me more about Alison." Pam said as she stared straight ahead at the tv.

"Well, when we first met again, I figured out who she was, but she didn't recognize me. When she did find out, she felt awful. She begged me to give her another chance and to start with a clean slate." Emily finished with a spoonful of ice cream.

"And you agreed, I assume?"

"Yeah, I thought about it for a couple days and decided to try again at getting to know each other."

"I wish I knew what you went through with her back then," Pam said with a frown.

Emily matched it with one of her own as she turned to face Pam. "Listen, mom, maybe one night, soon, we can go back to that place if you really want to. But just know that I've moved on. I am ok from it. I've come to peace with it, and believe it or not, Alison has helped with that a lot." A smile graced Emily's face at the mention of the blonde.

"She must really be special to you, huh?"

Emily couldn't keep the cheesy grin off her face and the softness out of her voice. "Yeah, she really is."

"Then what's the problem? Doesn't she feel the same way?"

"Well, she's never been with a girl before, but she was ok with that, I think. At least she seemed ok with it." Emily bit the inside of her cheek.

"Go on, I know there's more." Pam placed her bowl of ice cream down on the coffee table before grabbing Emily's out of her hand. She turned to face Emily on the couch and grabbed both of her hands. "It's ok, I'm not going to judge anything that you say."

Emily gave Pam an appreciative smile. "Remember how I told you she just got divorced?" Pam nodded her head that she did. "Well, she went on Monday to finalize it and while she was at the courthouse she passed out and was taken to the hospital."

Pam's hand shot up to her mouth. "Oh my, is she ok?"

"Yeah, the doctor's said she was suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. But while she was there, they did some blood work and she found out that she's pregnant."

"Oh, so does she want to go back to her ex?" Pam furrowed her brow.

"No, she said that she wants nothing to do with him and she could care less if he even sees the baby." Pam gave Emily a look of confusion, so Emily continued. "The night the baby was conceived, he forced himself on her. And then she caught him in bed with her best friend."

"Oh, wow. He seems like a complete jerk."

"He really is," Emily scoffed.

"So, is Alison going to keep the baby?"

"She says that she wants to, but she doesn't know if she's a hundred percent sure if she wants to include me. She says she doesn't want to hurt me again. She doesn't want to string me along and then realize it's not what she wants." Emily sighed as she dropped her head.

"What do you want, honey?" Pam asked, her voice laced with sincerity.

"I want to be a part of _both_ their lives. I want to be there for her for whatever she needs. I told her that I could be there as just a friend to her, but I don't know if I can do that, mom."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm quickly falling in love with her." A smile slowly began to form on Emily's face and Pam's soon matched. "She's made me feel things that's I've never felt before. I feel alive when I'm with her. It's like the world falls away and it's only us. Nothing else matters. And the couple of times that we've kissed, it's felt like a thousand bolts of electricity coursing through my body."

Pam looked over at her daughter with a cheeky smile. "Em, it's sounds like you've already fallen." Emily blew out a breath and shrugged. Pam squeezed her hands harder. "I know you're scared and uncertain, but just be there for her, just like you have been. She's just gone through two life changing events in one day. She needs time to process it all. I have a feeling that she'll come around soon," Pam said with a smile on her face.

"I hope you're right, mom."

"Me too," Pam whispered before pulling Emily into another tight hug.

 **A/N 2: Ok, so that was the Emily/Pam talk. I hope you guys liked it! Up next: the Alison/Jason heart-to-heart. Hopefully I'll have it you guys on Monday, Tuesday at the latest!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey guys! So sorry this update is later than I intended, but adulting and parenting have thrown a wrench in my free time for writing so far this week. This is the Ali/Jason heart to heart and her decision is finally made :) yay! I hope you guys enjoy it! Again, sorry for the delay. I'm going to try my best to get another chapter out this week, but I can't make any promises. Reviews are always welcome!**

Alison stepped off the train and checked the time on her phone. _A little after 6_ , she thought. She had about a half an hour to get to the restaurant in time for their reservation. The whole ride to Philly, her thoughts were consumed by the brunette and their time spent together last weekend and the subsequent events that followed. She couldn't believe what life had thrown her in the past week.

She had finally rid herself of Elliot. She felt like she finally had a clean slate and could be happy now. For so long, she felt the burden of her wedding ring and the certificate that made her his wife. For the very briefest of moments, immediately following the judge's ruling, Alison thought that she could begin to make things work with Emily. But life threw her yet another curve ball.

She knew what her heart wanted. Her heart wanted Emily more than she had ever wanted anything or anyone before. But did she have the right to bring a _baby_ into the brunette's future? Did she have the right to ask Emily to step up to the plate and be a parent? They had both barely begun to live life. But it was _her_ choices that led to her current condition, not Emily's. She was the one that got herself pregnant. It's not like her and Emily had been in a committed relationship for some time and a baby was the next logical step for them. They weren't even technically in a relationship at all!

They had talked through things on Tuesday night, but everything still felt like it was in a fragile state of limbo. They had basically just rewound back to before Saturday. And as refreshing as it was to know that things weren't _completely_ screwed up between them, Alison didn't _want_ to pretend that Saturday never happened. She couldn't get the thoughts of Emily out of her head. The way that Emily was so kind and understanding during her meltdown before dinner. How the conversation between them during dinner just flowed so naturally between them. How their hands looked intertwined at points throughout the night. And she couldn't get those kisses in the park and all the others that followed out of her head. Alison _definitely_ couldn't get those _other_ kisses out of her head.

The sound of her name being called by a familiar voice brought her back from her thoughts. Jason stood about 20 feet in front of her, waiting outside of the restaurant.

Walking up to him, he wraps her in a warm hug. "Hey, Sis."

Tightening her grip around him, she replies. "Hi, Jason. Shall we?"

Pulling out of his embrace, Alison takes a step back as Jason holds the door and gestures her through with his free hand. She gives him a dimpled smile and a head nod as she walks through, which Jason matched with his own head nod and dimpled smile. They made small talk while they waited for their table.

Alison couldn't wait to tell Jason that he was about to become an uncle, but she was nervous about any deep conversation that may stem from there. She knew that he would love his little niece or nephew to death, but Alison wasn't sure how he would take the news of who the father is. Jason had always voiced his distaste for Elliot. At first, Alison had thought he was just playing the protective older brother role and he wouldn't like _any guy_ she dated. But looking back now, she knew that Jason _really_ had every good reason to hate him. She just wished that she had listened more back then. Maybe she could have saved herself so much heartbreak.

Once they were seated, the waiter came over to take their drink order. Alison opened her mouth to speak, but Jason was already ordering for them.

"Two glasses of your finest Pinot Noir, please."

Alison quickly cut in before the waiter could leave. "Actually, none for me, thank you. I'll take a raspberry iced tea, please."

Jason raised his eyebrow at his sister as she smiled to the waiter. He kept his face frozen until she finally looked at him.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"I've never seen you turn down alcohol before! C'mon, we're celebrating you finally being free from the douche bag!"

Alison couldn't help but chuckle at his choice of words. "Yeah, I should have listened to you more back then when you tried to warn me." Her face softened. "I really wish I had," she sighed.

The waiter came back with their drinks and took their dinner order.

"Well, all that matters is that he's out of your life now!" Jason said as he picked up his glass in salute.

Alison gulped and hesitantly grabbed her glass to tap to her brother's own. "Yeah, about that…" she trailed off.

Jason quirked an eyebrow questioningly at the blonde sitting across from him.

"Jason, I… I'm pregnant."

The older DiLaurentis' mouth dropped open for a short moment before breaking out into a wide grin. "Seriously?" he asked excitedly.

Alison shook her head sheepishly with a shy smile on her face.

Jason jumped out of his chair and made it over to Alison in two quick strides. He pulled her up and wrapped her into his arms before swinging her around twice. "So I'm going to be an uncle? Ali, that's amazing!"

Alison slapped his shoulder. "Put me down," she laughed. "People are staring." His excitement was contagious and she couldn't help but smile wide.

"So, does he know?" Jason asked once they had settled back into their seats.

"No, I wish he didn't have to."

"Then don't," Jason said nonchalantly while taking a sip of wine.

"As much as I hate him, he should know about his kid."

"Well, at least you can get some money out of him," Jason said with a devilish smirk.

Alison chuckled and shook her head as the waiter brought them their food.

"I'm happy for you, Sis."

Alison gave him a genuine smile in return. "Thank you."

They both ate in relative silence as they enjoyed their food. Once they had finished, Jason interrupted the silence. "So, what are you going to do?" The younger woman gave him a quizzical look. "About the baby. I'm assuming you're going to do this on your own?" Jason asked curiously.

Alison hesitated in answering. She wasn't quite sure how to answer _that_ question.

"I don't know, honestly. I just don't know." She sighs as she stared into her now empty glass.

Jason looked taken aback by his sister's words. "You're not going to expect Elliot to help you out at all, are you? Ali, we both know he is a worthless piece of shit who probably won't even _want_ to be a part of the kid's life! He made it perfectly clear that he never gave a shit about you."

Alison gave him a dumbfounded look. "No! I don't expect Elliot to step up and do anything! That's not what I meant."

"Huh?"

"What I meant is that I don't know if I'm going to be alone. I mean, I don't _have_ to do it alone." Alison gave her brother a sheepish grin.

Jason's confusion slowly turned to realization. "Wait? Are you seeing someone?"

"Kind of. It's complicated. I don't even know _what_ we are."

"Well, who is he? Someone from work? What's his name?"

The questions came rapid fire and Alison suddenly felt overwhelmed. "You gossip like a middle school girl." Alison stuck his tongue out at her brother, trying to calm herself in the process of buying herself time to answer.

"Quit stalling." He poked his tongue out between his teeth.

Alison took a deep breath and released it. "Well, it is someone from work, but _her_ name is Emily." Alison looked around the restaurant nervously, not wanting to look her brother in the eye after her confession. After a few moments, Jason's voice surprised her.

"So, what's the problem?"

Alison looked at him in shock. "You, you don't care that it's a girl?"

Jason's face softened. "Ali, I don't care if it's a guy _or_ a girl. As long as it's someone who makes you happy and puts you _first_ in their lives. After everything that Elliot put you through, you deserve someone who makes you happy."

Alison smiled at thoughts of Emily flying through her brain.

Jason sat back and studied his sister's face. She had never looked like that being in the _same room_ as Elliot, let alone just _talking_ about him! A small smile began to form on the corners of his lips as he asked, "do you love her?"

Alison looked down at her empty glass again before a small smile formed on her lips. " _I know how I feel when she looks at me. I've never felt that with anyone before. It's like she sees who you really are. Maybe that's the scariest part. You look at her, you look at her eyes and you want to be worth the effort. You want to be the person she sees."_

 _Jason let Alison's words hang in the air as he waved down the waiter for the check. "Thank you for such a great dinner, Ali."_

 _Alison looked at him in confusion. "But I didn't answer your question."_

 _"_ _But you didn't lie to me, either. The old Ali might have just to avoid the conversation."_

 _Alison gave him a weak smile as Jason slipped the money into the check presenter. He stood up and helped Alison with her coat before slipping his own on. They walked out of the restaurant in silence until they were back on the street._

 _Jason turned to his little sister. "So what's the problem if you are falling for this girl?"_

 _Alison felt the temperature around her growing suddenly hotter. She was really hoping this part of her past with Emily wouldn't come up, but she had no clue how to avoid it while still appeasing her brother. So she took a deep breath, and decided on telling the truth. "Back in high school, I was the reason that she was bullied relentlessly. Her life was_ _miserable_ _because of_ _me._ _I could have stopped it, but I was a coward and just watched Noel and Jenna_ _destroy_ _her." Alison felt a hot tear run down her cheek and angrily wiped it away._

 _Jason reached out, placed his hands on Alison's upper arms, and ducked his head to look her in the eye. "I'm assuming you guys have talked about this?"_

 _Alison took a shaky breath. "Yeah, we have. A few times. She says that she's forgiven me, but I can't get past how much I've hurt her. She's such an amazing person. I_ _hate_ _what I did to her."_

 _Jason gripped Alison a little tighter, making sure that she_ _really_ _listened to his next words. "Look, Ali. I know our relationship has a complicated past. But look at us now, we've worked through all of our shit and we get along great. Yeah, it wasn't always easy, but we got through it by being_ _honest_ _and_ _forgiving_ _. Now, it sounds to me like she's already been honest and forgiven you, now you just need to forgive_ _yourself_ _and be honest about what you_ _want._ _And if Emily makes you happy and you want to wake up and fall asleep next to her everyday, and you want her there for midnight feedings and the baby's first words and steps, then_ _tell her_ _, Ali. Don't let the fear in your_ _head_ _override the fear in your_ _heart._ _"_

 _Alison stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. She leaned her head against his chest. "When did you become so wise?"_

 _Jason shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "I just want you to be happy. And I've never seen you look so happy as when you are talking about her. Your eyes light up. It takes a special person to do that to you._ _Don't_ _let that go."_

 _"_ _Thank you, for everything."_

 _"_ _Love you, Sis."_

 _"_ _Love you, too, Jason."_

 _On the walk back to the train, Alison had made up her mind. Her brother was right, Emily was special and she would be a fool not to hold on to that. She never wanted her life to be without Emily in it._

 _She took out her phone and opened her messages. She needed to see Emily tonight._

 _ **Hey, you still up? – Ali x**_

 _ **It's 8:45, how old do you think I am? ;) – Em x**_

 _Alison loved this playful side of the brunette._

 _ **I didn't know what time you had to get up in the morning to catch you bus to your meet. I was wondering if I could stop by? I wanted to see you. – Ali x**_

 _ **I'll be up for another hour or so. What's up? – Em x**_

 _ **Oh, I'm just leaving Philly now. Will that be too late? – Ali x**_

 _ **If I know you're coming by, I'll stay up just for you ;) – Em x**_

 _Alison smiled as she tucked her phone back into her purse. She sat back and closed her eyes as she thought back to last Saturday. She had felt so loved by Emily that day, which was a feeling that she hadn't felt in a while, if ever, outside of her family. She had never felt so comfortable around someone before. Looking back, she was surprised that she had shared the story of her mother with the brunette. She had never told anyone about it because she didn't even like to_ _think_ _about it. Some of her "friends" at the time knew about her mom's passing, but no one knew the extent to which it affected the blonde. At the time, she acted like it didn't affect her at all. She just went on with her queen bee persona. Until the one day a couple of months later when all of the emotions that she had been ignoring came crashing to the surface. There was only one time in her life that she cried harder than that day, and that was last Saturday after letting Emily leave. It was that moment that she knew that her heart never wanted to let Emily leave ever again._

 _The ping of her cell phone alerted her to another text. She saw that it was Emily again giving her the address and telling her to let her know when she was downstairs and not to buzz up because her mom would be sleeping. She didn't want to be an inconvenience, but she knew that Emily would be busy tomorrow and she_ _needed_ _to tell her in person how she felt. There was no way that she would be able to wait until Sunday now._

 _By the time that the train pulled into the station, her stomach felt like hundreds of butterflies had just been woken from their metamorphic slumber. She felt like her heart was about to explode because it was beating so fast. She got into her car and let out a few steadying breaths. She had never been so nervous about anything before. And she didn't know why. She knew how the brunette felt about her. Emily had always been clear about how she felt and had told her several times that she would wait for Alison to be ready to take the next step._

 _But wanting to let someone in so_ _completely_ _was entirely new to her. She had never felt this sort of_ _pull_ _towards anyone before. It was like her very life force sought out Emily._ _Needed_ _her to feel complete and_ _alive_ _. Just the_ _thought_ _of Emily Fields could instantly brighten the blonde's mood. And seeing her in person? There was_ _no way_ _for Alison to be in a bad mood around someone as amazing as Emily._

 _As she pulled up to the apartment building, she grabbed her cell and sent Emily a text letting her know she was downstairs waiting. She wiped her hands on the front of her pants to try and dry them off some. As Emily appeared at the front door, she took a deep breath and got out of the car._

 _"_ _Hi," Emily said with a smirk as she leaned against the door frame. "Missed me too much to wait until Sunday?"_

 _Alison rounded her car with a nervous smile and a shy head shake. "Yeah, sorry for barging in so late, I know you have to be up early tomorrow, but I_ _needed_ _to get this off my chest before Sunday."_

 _Emily's smirk faded. She could tell that Alison was nervous about something, and it unsettled Emily some. She stood up straight and asked, "um, do you want to come up?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, if it's ok?"_

 _"_ _Um, I think so?"_

 _Emily went to turn away and Alison could feel that her own nerves were having an effect on the brunette. In hopes of calming_ _both_ _of them, Alison reached out and grabbed Emily's hand before intertwining their fingers. Emily's gaze shot down to their hands and then to Alison's blue eyes._

 _"_ _Let's go upstairs and talk." Alison's tone was soft and she saw Emily release a deep breath before her mouth formed into the most gorgeous smile Emily had ever seen. After that, Emily practically pulled the blonde up the steps and into the apartment._

 _Once through the door, Alison stopped and took in the apartment surrounding her. It was an open floor plan with an eat-in kitchen to the right, and a hallway down the left of the living room that she assumed led to the bedrooms and bathroom. But what really caught her eye was the space in front of her. It was a spacious living room with a large window overlooking the small downtown of Rosewood. Alison never thought much of her hometown, but looking at it from three stories up, with the lights of the buildings and streetlights shining, Alison thought it looked beautiful. She couldn't help but smile as she thought about how much her views on things had changed since Emily came into her life._

 _Emily led them both over to the couch where they each sat cross-legged with their knees touching lightly. Alison took a hold of Emily's other hand as she took a deep breath to begin to say what she needed to say._

 _"_ _I first want to thank you for being so patient with me. A lesser woman would have run for the hills after everything that happened. Thank you for not running." Emily gave Alison's hands a squeeze and a smile that reached her eyes. Alison felt like she could get lost in those eyes forever. "And thank you for showing me that a partner_ _can_ _be better and that I_ _deserve_ _better from a partner. You have treated me with nothing but kindness and respect, even when I definitely did_ _not_ _deserve it."_

 _Emily wanted to cut in and tell her that she did deserved the world, but Alison shot her a look and Emily quickly closed her mouth to let Alison finish. Alison gave her a grateful smile and continued._

 _"_ _You are by far the funniest, sweetest, kindest and most_ _beautiful_ _person I have ever met. You make me want to be a better person for you_ _and_ _this baby. My life is better because you are in it." She slowly pulled her right hand away from Emily's and gently placed it on her not-yet-there baby bump. "_ _Our_ lives will be better with you in them."

Emily opened her mouth to speak and this time Alison let her cut in. "What are you saying?" The brunette questioned as she felt her heart pounding in her ears and tears begin to fill her eyes.

Alison squeezed both of Emily's hands tightly before releasing them and bringing them to either side of Emily's face. Her own eyes brimming with tears, she continued. "I _love_ you, Emily. And I want to do _this,_ as a _family_ , with you."

Tears finally spilling down both of their cheeks, Alison pulls Emily into a passionate kiss. Emily's hand found the back of Alison's neck to pull her in closer. Soon, Alison ran her tongue along Emily's bottom lip and Emily parted hers, allowing the kiss to deepen. Their tongues explored while their lips worked against each other. After a few minutes, Alison's hands moved to Emily's waist and she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, bringing Emily down flat on the couch underneath her.

Alison settled in between the brunette's legs while Emily's hands moved to the curves of Alison's hips. Her thumbs began to gently rub the soft skin where the blonde's shirt had ridden up some when she put her arms around Emily's neck. Their lips never parted.

Alison felt like she couldn't get enough of Emily. The exposed flesh where Emily's thumbs was ignited like it never had been before. As much as Alison wanted to take things further, she needed to fight her raging hormones and keep things from getting too far. Emily deserved better than for their first time together to be on the brunette's couch with her mother asleep down the hall. Reluctantly, Alison pulled out of the kiss and smiled at the way Emily leaned up with her eyes close, not wanting the kiss to end. She gently pressed her forehead to Emily's. Emily slowly opened her eyes and an almost inaudible "wow" fell from her lips. Alison couldn't help but smile at the beauty underneath her.

They laid in silence for a few moments, chocolate brown eyes staring into crystal blue, chests heaving. Emily gave Alison her brightest smile. "I love you, too, Ali."

Emily's words washing over Alison, she felt like she could melt into the brunette. Her heart had never felt so full. She _truly_ believed the words that Emily had just spoken to her. Their foreheads still touching, Alison asked shyly, "stay with me tomorrow? After you get back from your meet?"

Emily looked into pleading blue eyes and nodded slightly while leaning up for a soft kiss. Alison sighed into the kiss before climbing off of the brunette, who immediately frowned at the loss of contact. After saying their goodbyes, Alison headed towards her car with an extra bounce in her step. For the first time in her life, she felt _truly_ happy. A smile graced her face as she thought about all the ways to show Emily _just_ how incredible she was.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hey guys, soooo sorry this update took so long. I was dealing with a lot of personal stuff last week and just didn't have time to put anything up. But for being so patient, here is almost 6,000 words of pure (almost) Emison! I wanted to get this out on Monday, but it felt a little awkward writing it at work (you'll see why). With that being said, this may not be suitable to read at work, or in public maybe? I don't know. But we finally get to what I think you've all been waiting for. But good news about not being able to write the final scene at work: I started on the next chapter of fully loaded Emison. Hopefully I can finish it today at work and maybe start the next. So, without further ado, the moment you've all been waiting for!**

This waiting game was torture for Emily. Now that their feelings were out in the open, she wanted to spend all of her free time with Alison. She got very little sleep last night, her mind consumed by the blonde and the words they exchanged. Once Alison left, Emily laid on the couch, still smelling Alison's scent lingering. She sent the blonde a quick text asking her to let her know that she got home ok. Emily smiled as she thought back to just a few short minutes ago. Emily's heart felt incredibly full at the moment and she savored in the feeling. She had her fair share of relationships in the past, but she _never_ had the sort of feelings that she felt towards Alison for any other girl before. Emily didn't even _know_ that this type of feeling was even _possible_. Alison finally sent a text back about 15 minutes after she left, saying that she was home safe and tucked into bed. A two-hour long text conversation followed and by 1 a.m., Emily finally succumbed to a blissful slumber snuggled up with her pillow.

When she woke in the morning, she was thankful for the distraction of her swim meet. She was hoping that it would at least _somewhat_ keep her mind occupied, but the waiting was still going to be a lot to handle. After showering and dressing, she noticed a new message on her phone. She broke into a wide smile when she saw who it was from.

 **Good morning beautiful :) Good luck today, kick some ass! – Ali x**

Emily giggled to herself before typing out a reply.

 **Good morning to you too :) Thank you. Why are you up so early? – Em x**

Emily looked at the clock and frowned. It wasn't even 7:00 and they had been up late the night before. She knew Alison needed more sleep.

 **Morning sickness :/ - Ali x**

 **I'm sorry :( Do you still want me to come by after my meet? – Em x**

 **Of course I do! It's all I've been thinking about since I left your place last night :) – Ali x**

 **Then I'll be there :) I've got to go though, please get some more sleep? – Em x**

 **I will, don't worry, I'll need all my strength for what I have planned tonight ;) – Ali x**

 _Wait, what? As if today wasn't going to be hard already she goes and says something so suggestive? Yeah, Alison DiLaurentis is going to be the death of me today!_

Emily stared at the message for a moment longer. She felt her face grow warm at the thought of having Alison in bed. She had to squeeze her thighs together and curb her thoughts before she wound up needing _another_ shower this morning, but this one cold. But she didn't want to rush into anything that the blonde wasn't ready for. She knew that they got a little carried away last Saturday, but in a way, she was glad that Elliot showed up when he did. She knew that had they made it through that door, they would have ended up in bed together. And with everything that Emily knows now, she's not 100 percent certain that Alison would have been ready for that. She's glad that things worked out the way that they did, even if they both got hurt in the process. She's glad that Alison was able to process everything _on her own_ and be sure of what she wanted. Last night looking into those blue orbs, she saw couldn't find a speck of doubt that _she_ was what Alison wanted.

XXXXX

The bus ride home was quiet. The team didn't do as well as they had been the last couple of meets, but they were still within reach of winning with the last race. Emily thought back to the events of that final race.

 _It was the freestyle relay and Addison was the anchor. Her team was in the lead the first two legs, but the third leg was a body length short coming into the finish. Addison jumped into the water and had a strong start. She had almost caught up going into the turn, but something went terribly wrong. As Addison dipped below the water, she turned and went to push off, when she felt an excruciating pain in her foot. She surfaced in agonizing pain a few feet from the side of the pool and Emily immediately rushed over to her. By the time the Athletic Trainer got to her a few minutes later, her foot was already beginning to swell and bruise. The natatorium was quiet and the only sounds that could be heard was Addison's sobs into her mother's shirt._

Sitting in the front of the bus, Emily just couldn't wait to get to Alison's. She had packed her bag right after Alison left her apartment last night, excited to spend some quality time with the blonde. She grabbed her phone out of her bag and noticed an unread message. Her and Alison had thrown a few messages back and forth, but with everything that happened with Addison, she had completely forgotten about anything else.

 **Let me know when you are on your way :) Are you good with chicken for dinner? – Ali x**

Emily felt her mood immediately lighten at the blonde's message. No girl that she had ever dated offered to make her dinner. The domesticity of it all just felt so _right_ to Emily.

 **I should be there in about an hour, we are about half way back to Rosewood. And chicken sounds good, thank you. – Em x**

 **Ok, great! Can't wait to see you :) How did the meet go? – Ali x**

 **Not so good, but we can talk about it later – Em x**

 **Oh, I'm sorry. I'll see you soon though, right? – Ali x**

Emily thought for a moment before answering. She didn't want to seem to needy so early on, but she was totally hooked on Alison DiLaurentis after just one official date and a few kisses. She needed to feel Alison's arms around her, needed her scent to fill her lungs and calm her. Alison made her world shine brighter, especially in those dark corners, making everything seem less scary. She really had no doubt that whatever she faced, as long as she had Alison by her side, she would be fine. All she needed was Alison. Her fingers quickly typed out her message.

 **As fast as I can get there, I just need you – Em x**

 **I'll always be here waiting for you – Ali x**

Emily didn't know why exactly, but a tear rolled down her cheek reading that message. All of these emotions were welling up inside of her that she wasn't really used to. She had memories of middle school and before where she felt _true_ joy and happiness. But after everything happened, she was just _so_ broken and she always felt like a part of her never came back. She was afraid to let people fully in after what happened with Paige. She looked happy on the surface, but deep down, those wounds from high school never _truly_ healed.

The one bright spot that Emily felt she did have when she was younger was her father. He was her rock. She knew that she could count on him for anything. He was always the voice of reason and would listen fully to her before he gave her advice and she knew that he would never judge her. His sudden loss had _devastated_ her. She didn't know how to handle it. So she didn't. She took care of her mom, instead. Pam was completely heartbroken at the loss of her soulmate. Emily made sure that her mom ate, got out of bed, and showered. It took a little time, but eventually, Pam was able to pull herself up and move on with life.

Emily on the other hand, still hadn't dealt with her father's passing, not wanting to have to make her mother go through having to grieve Wayne all over as Emily went through it. So she did what she had been doing for years and just didn't feel and put on a brave face. Until Alison came back into her life, she was ok with that. But Alison had awoken something inside of her, and whether Emily liked it or not, she was beginning to _feel_ again. And after last night, there was no going back for Emily. She knew that Alison had changed her life for the better and she would always give Alison credit for that, no matter what happened in life. What had happened between them before was history, the only thing that mattered now was the present and making the most of it.

XXXXX

Emily pulled up to Alison's house and practically sprinted to the door. She couldn't wait to wrap her arms around Alison. She took a deep breath and then knocked lightly. Alison answered the door with a bright smile and immediately grabbed Emily's wrist and pulled her inside into a tight hug while kicking the door shut behind them. Emily nuzzled into the side of Alison's neck and filled her lungs with the scent that she knew was entirely Alison. They stood there for a long moment, just enjoying being in one another's arms.

Alison eventually pulled away and looked at Emily with a warm smile. Emily looked into those gorgeous blue eyes that she had been seeing everytime her eyes closed. "Thank you, I needed that, it's been a day." The scent of dinner cooking hit Emily now that the blonde was not all she could smell. "Wow, that smells amazing, what's cooking?"

The two made their way into the kitchen. "Pan roasted herbed chicken with mushroom risotto and seasoned vegetables." Emily looked at Alison with a slack jaw. Alison raised one eyebrow and jutted her hip to the side at Emily's reaction. "What?"

"I thought when you said chicken it was going to be something simple. This is amazing, Ali. _Way_ better than anything I could ever make."

Alison blushed slightly. "What, you and the kitchen aren't friends?"

"Not unless it's breakfast food. Honestly, I tried to make spaghetti and meatballs for my mom one time, and when she walked into the kitchen, she said it looked like a scene from a horror movie! Sauce was everywhere! It took _days_ to find all the places that the sauce splattered into!" Emily laughed as she remembered the last time she even attempted anything other than scrambled eggs or pancakes.

"Yeah, but how did it _taste_?" Alison asked through her laughter.

"My mom said it _tasted_ like a scene out of a horror movie, too." Emily said with a smile on her face that reached her eyes.

"Well then, I guess _you're_ making breakfast for us then tomorrow, aren't you?" Alison raised an eyebrow at Emily.

"Mmmm, play your cards right and you just might," Emily said with a wink.

Alison blushed and cleared her throat. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, do you want something to drink?"

"Water's fine. Do you mind if I wash up first?"

"No, not at all. Bathroom is down the hall to the right. Help yourself to whatever you need," Alison called as she turned to reach into the cupboard for two glasses. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone walk up behind her and place their hands on her hips. As she was spun around, she was met with Emily's soft lips against her own. It was soft and passionate and made Alison's head spin. But before she could revel in it anymore, Emily pulled away and placed her forehead to Alison's. "What was that for?" Alison asked, locking eyes with the brunette.

"Just helping myself to what I needed," Emily said with a smirk on her face.

Alison couldn't help but laugh as Emily headed off towards the bathroom. She stood there with her fingers to her lips for a few moments until the tingle she felt on them went away. Alison was beginning to love that feeling of Emily's lips on her own. She wanted to feel Emily's lips all over her body. Before she could let her mind wander _too_ far, she shook her head, filled the two glasses with ice water, and set the table.

When Emily came back, Alison was just putting the food to the table. "This really does look amazing, Ali. You didn't have to go all out though like this, but thank you," Emily said as she took a seat across from the blonde.

"You thought this was a special meal or something?" Alison asked as she took a sip of water.

Emily's eyes widened and her mind went blank. "I, uh, I didn't. Uh, I…"

Alison chuckled and reached over to grab Emily's hand, squeezing it gently. "Em, I was joking, relax. Yes, I wanted to make this special. This is the first time you've been over. It's the first time that I'll get to cook for you. So I wanted to make it special."

Emily smiled. "You like to cook, huh?"

"I love it. My Nana taught me when I was younger. And I kind of took over the cooking role once my mom got sick and after she was gone. Without me, my dad and brother would have lived off of Chinese and pizza for the rest of their lives!"

"Well, thank you for cooking for me." Emily squeezed Alison's hand and they locked eyes briefly, before continuing. "I didn't realize I was starving until I walked in here and smelled this."

Emily cut into her chicken and put a piece into her mouth. The moan that escaped her lips made Alison squeeze her thighs together tightly and try to ignore the growing throb in her core. To distract herself from the images of her and Emily that her brain was conjuring up, she began chatting about their days. Alison said that she worked on grading papers most of the morning so that she wouldn't have to worry about them tomorrow, to which Emily smiled and blushed at the thought of hopefully spending an entire Sunday together. Alison asked how the meet went and Emily told her about Addison and how worried she was about her.

"I told her parents to let me know what the Orthopedic said, but it didn't look good from what I saw."

Alison gave a sad smile as she grabbed her glass. "How awful. That poor girl."

Emily raised an eyebrow to Alison. "That _poor_ girl? I've heard her bitch and complain about you more times than you can imagine! Didn't you give her detention last week for talking back to you?" Emily laughed.

Alison put her hand over her chest and feigned shock. "You think that _I_ would revel in the pain of a student? Even _if_ that student is the biggest pain in my ass that I've ever taught?"

Emily laughed harder. "I know, she can be tough to handle!" Emily's smile faltered some. "But she was my best swimmer. She had so much potential. I was trying to show her that she didn't need to be so hard all of the time. I was hoping that I would be able to get through to her and help change her attitude. I wanted her to be an _and_ athlete, not a _but_ athlete"

"Ok, you've lost me at that last part? A what athlete?"

"It's from a speech I saw a coach give. He said that their were 2 types of athletes: ands and buts. You know, so and so is a great athlete, _and_ a great leader, _and_ a straight A student, _and_ a hard worker. Those are the kids that colleges want. Not so and so over here who is a great athlete, _but_ is disrespectful to authority figures, _but_ gets by with just their talent and doesn't put much effort in after that. I feel like Addison is a but athlete, but she has the potential to be _so_ much more."

Alison could see that Emily truly cared about Addison and her swim team. She knew that Emily was an amazing coach not just because she could teach the kids to become better swimmers, but because she could teach them how to be better _people_. Alison sat there in awe of the brunette across from her and felt her heart swell at the fact that Emily _chose_ her to share in this moment with. Alison knew that she was falling more in love with Emily with each passing second.

As they finished eating, Emily helped Alison clear the table and put the leftovers in the fridge. Alison stood at the sink clearing the dishes when Emily walked up behind her and placed a kiss on the back of her shoulder. Alison hummed in response as she leaned back into Emily as Emily wrapped her arms around her stomach. An idea then popped into Alison's head and she looked at Emily with a smirk. Emily could see the hint of mischief in Alison's eye and raised a questioning eyebrow. Alison took a step back, forcing Emily to do the same. She then took a plate out of the sink and bent down at the hips towards the open dishwasher, pressing her ass into Emily's front. She heard a tiny moan leave Emily's lips and her smirk grew wider. She continued her little game until all the dishes were in the dishwasher, stealing glances at Emily as the brunette held her bottom lip between her teeth and an ever tightening grip on Alison's hips. Seeing the reaction she was getting from Emily only made her need for the brunette greater.

As Alison went to close the dishwasher, Emily began placing kisses along the side of Alison's neck. Alison snaked a hand up and through Emily's hair, pressing Emily's head harder into her neck. Alison moaned as Emily sucked and nipped on the point directly below her before soothing it with her tongue. Alison ground her hips back into Emily, causing the brunette to moan as she threw her head back onto her shoulders. Emily spun Alison around and hungrily found her lips with crushing force. She ran her tongue along Alison's bottom lip and the blonde eagerly accepted Emily's tongue. Alison's hands were tangled into Emily's hair, while Emily's hands ran down Alison's sides before finding the back of her thighs and lifting her onto the counter. Emily's kisses began to trail down to Alison's neck and collarbone and her hands began to lift Alison's sweater up and over her head. Emily took in the sight in front of her. Alison's fair skin contrasted perfectly with the dark purple lace bra that she was wearing.

Alison arched her back as Emily's lips found their way to the swell of her breasts. The air in the kitchen was becoming warmer and Alison's breathing was becoming heavy. Her hands found their way to the hem of Emily's shirt as she pulled it off of the brunette. Alison's mouth went dry as she drank in olive skin and perfect breasts. Arousal collected between her legs as she ran her fingernails across Emily's toned stomach, feeling the ripples of the muscles underneath. Emily locked eyes with Alison and smirked for a brief moment before crashing their lips together again. Alison slid forward on the counter and wrapped her legs around Emily's waist, bringing bare skin together in a feeling that ignited a fire deep within her. She pulled away from the kiss and brought her lips to Emily's ear.

"Take me to bed," Alison husked through panted breathes.

Emily's lips found hers again and Emily picked her up off the counter and made her way to the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, Alison unwrapped her legs from Emily's waist and put her feet to the floor. Grabbing Emily's hand and intertwining their fingers, she led them up to her bedroom. As soon as the bedroom door closed behind them, Emily took Alison's other hand and pinned Alison up against the door. Their kisses were deep, tongues battling for dominance, mouths swallowing moans. Emily shifted so her right leg was between Alison's legs. She pulled away from the kiss and watched Alison's reaction as she rolled her hips forward, her right thigh grinding into Alison's center through her leggings. Alison threw her head back against the door and let out a deep moan. Emily licked her lips as she could feel the heat from Alison's center on her thigh.

Emily released Alison's hands and reached behind to pick Alison up again. Alison cupped Emily's face and began kissing the brunette again, this time more slowly, but still with the fiery passion of their kisses from a few moments ago. Once they reached the bed, Emily gently placed Alison down on her back and made quick work of removing the blonde's leggings. Alison blushed slightly as Emily took in the sight of Alison on her back in her matching dark purple lace bra and panties. Emily climbed on top of Alison and hovered over her, her hair falling like a curtain around Alison's face. In that moment, Alison could see the love and trust in Emily's eyes. To Emily, she saw nothing but caring in Alison's eyes. They both knew in that moment that neither one of them was going to intentionally ever hurt the other. The slate had truly been wiped clean.

"Make love to me, Emily. I want to feel you all around me," Alison whispered as Emily brought her face nose-to-nose with the blonde.

Emily didn't hesitate and brought her lips back to Alison's. Alison's hands slid up and down Emily's back before finding the clasp and unhooking Emily's bra, letting her breasts fall free. Alison's right hand worked to Emily's front and began to fist and squeeze Emily's breast. Emily let out a moan when Alison took Emily's nipple between her thumb and forefinger and gently pinched and tugged at the sensitive bud. Emily's hand slid behind Alison, making quick work of her bra and removing it. Emily quickly moved to her left breast, licking small circles around her nipple before finally taking it between her teeth and biting gently.

"Mmmmm, that feels so good," escaped Alison's mouth as Emily pulled and then released Alison's nipple with a "pop". Alison lifted her hips to Emily trying to gain some friction as Emily began work on the other nipple. Emily smiled against Alison's skin when the blonde again tried to gain some friction where she needed it most. Alison whimpered when she felt Emily get off of her and stand at the edge of the bed facing Alison. Alison watched with blown pupils as Emily slid her pants and panties off in one motion, leaving her completely naked. Alison slammed her eyes shut as Emily bent down and hooked her thumbs into purple lace. She opened them back up when nothing happened and stared straight into loving, chocolate eyes.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes, I want you Em, _all_ of you. I want you to feel _all_ of me."

With that, Emily pulled Alison's panties down her legs and threw them across the room. She took in Alison's glistening, perfectly manicured folds before climbing onto the bed and hovering over the blonde once more. She stared into blue eyes for a moment before shifting her leg and pressing her thigh into Alison's center. Alison's mouth fell open and Emily took advantage and brought their lips together once more, Emily's tongue exploring every inch of Alison's mouth. Alison raked her fingernails down Emily's back and smiled against the brunette as Emily moaned into Alison's mouth. In one smooth motion, Emily shifted her hips so that she was straddling the blonde and ground her hips down so that their centers connected. Alison could feel how wet Emily was and was a little proud that she had that effect on the brunette.

Emily trailed her kisses down between Alison's breasts and to her stomach while snaking a hand between their bodies and running her hand through soaking folds.

"God, Ali, you're so wet." Emily said through kisses all over the blonde's stomach, working towards the sensitive spot just above her hip bone.

"I've been thinking about this moment for weeks, please, I need you, Em," Alison said in an almost pleading tone.

Emily stopped her kisses and looked up at Alison. "Weeks, huh?"

"Yeah," Alison panted out as Emily teased her with the most gentle of passes through her center. Alison tried to bring her hips up to meet Emily's hand, but Emily pulled back slightly, teasing the blonde. Alison whimpered at the action. "Please, Em."

"Tell me what you need, Ali." Emily placed a gentle bit to Alison's hip bone before using the flat of her tongue to soothe the area.

"I need you inside me. I need you to fuck me."

Emily felt fresh arousal pool between her legs as she ran two fingers through Alison's folds and then inserted them into Alison's entrance. Alison's breath hitched as she felt Emily run her fingers down the front of her walls. She had never felt that before, and it was a feeling she wanted over and over again. Emily noticed the reaction and did it again, this time slower, before pumping in and out of Alison at a slow and steady pace. Emily's kisses began to travel lower, until Emily began to kiss the inside of Alison's thigh and then the other. Her mouth hovered over Alison's clit before Emily looked up briefly and locked onto the blonde through hooded lids. Alison gave Emily a slight nod and then wove her fingers into Emily's hair, pressing the brunette into her. Emily's tongue felt like heaven to Alison. The sensations that Emily was creating were unlike anything she had ever felt before. Alison could feel the familiar tightening building in her core. Every breath left Alison's body as a moan and Emily was having a hard time holding on herself. Emily slowly circled Alison's clit before bringing it into her mouth and sucking. Emily felt Alison's walls tighten at the sensation, and did it again. She then went back to circles as she increased the speed of her fingers inside of Alison.

"More," she heard Alison pant, so she inserted a third finger and watched as Alison's back arched off of the bed and her head pressed down hard into the pillow. Emily smiled and hummed against Alison's clit, sending the blonde wild. Alison's orgasm was building fast and strong. Alison pulled gently on Emily's hair, bringing the brunette back to her lips. Alison's kiss was deep and passionate. She loved the taste of herself on the brunette's lips. Emily could tell the blonde was getting close, so she took her fingers and dragged them down Alison's front wall as her thumb began to rub circles on her clit.

"Em, I'm going to, I'm…" Alison panted out as Emily's mouth moved to her pulse point of her neck.

"Come for me, baby," Emily said as she brought her face back to Alison's and watched as Alison's mouth hung open and her body tensed before writhing in waves of pleasure as her orgasm hit her like a freight train. Emily's names and curse words spilled from Alison's mouth and Emily had to control herself to stop from coming at the sight and sounds beneath her. Emily didn't let up her motions until Alison came back down and sunk back into the bed.

Alison whimpered at the loss of contact as Emily removed her fingers and brought them up to her mouth and licked them clean. Alison watched on and Emily saw blue eyes turn a shade darker once again. Alison quickly flipped them so that she was straddling the brunette now. She ran her fingernails down Emily's front and Emily bucked her hips to try to meet Alison's core.

"You think I'm going to give you what you want that easily after the teasing you gave me?" Alison husked into Emily's ear before running her tongue down her shell and sucking her earlobe into her mouth. Emily's mouth went dry and she slammed her eyes shut. She tried to make a quick motion to flip them again and be in control, but Alison was too quick and Emily ended up with her hands pinned above her head on the mattress. "Not used to giving up control, are we?" Alison asked. Emily tried to rub her legs together for some sort of friction, but Alison moved her thigh between them, leaving Emily completely helpless at Alison's hands.

"Please, baby. I need to feel you, I need to come." Emily pleaded as Alison worked her tongue on Emily's neck.

Alison smiled against Emily's skin. " _Baby_ , I like the sound of that."

"Baby, please. I'm begging you." Emily was squirming now, trying everything in her power to get anything to relieve the throbbing she was experiencing.

"Begging me?" Alison's kisses began to travel to Emily's breasts, where she first sucked one nipple into her mouth, stretching it and releasing it with a "pop" before moving on to the next one.

Emily could feel fresh waves of arousal coming over her. She knew she was soaked and no one had ever made her this wet before. She knew she was close and it wouldn't take much to send her over the edge. "Baby, I'm going to come before you even touch me if you keep this up."

"You like this, huh?" Alison sucks on the skin below Emily's breast, leaving a mark before licking it with her tongue. Emily gave her a nod as her head as her mind had completely forgotten any language whatsoever. "You better not come before I touch you."

Emily let out a whimper and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing and body before Alison finally had mercy on her and ran two fingers through dripping folds. Emily's hips shot up off the bed at the feeling, a moan escaping her lips. Alison began working small circles around her clit, so gentle that it was just a tease. Emily tried pushing down to gain more friction and Alison decided to finally give the brunette what she wanted. Rubbing a little harder now, Alison went back to sucking on Emily's earlobe. Emily was squirming beneath Alison now as she panted out, "I need to feel you inside of me."

Alison smiled against Emily's ear, ran her tongue along the shell once again, and inserted two fingers deep inside the brunette. Emily's mouth opened and a deep moan escaped her lips, only to be swallowed by the blonde as their mouths met in a deep and hungry kiss. Alison pumped in and out of Emily, harder and deeper with each thrust, feeling Emily's walls begin to tighten around her.

"Fuck, Ali," Emily moaned as she pulled back from their kiss, desperately trying to get air into her lungs. That familiar feeling was building hard and fast and she knew she was going to come harder than she ever had before.

Alison smirked again before completely pulling out of Emily, only to add a third finger. Emily's hips bucked up to meet each thrust and Alison could feel Emily's body begin to quake in the telling sign of her approaching orgasm. She took her thumb and swiped it against Emily's clit while curling her fingers, hitting Emily's spot so perfectly. Alison whispered in her ear, "Come for me, baby" before running her tongue down the length of Emily's neck and sucking on her collarbone.

That was all it took. Emily felt her orgasm come crashing through her as Alison's name shot from her mouth. Alison didn't stop with her thrusts and let Emily ride out her waves of pleasure until she finally came crashing down onto the bed.

"Shit, Ali. That was… wow." Emily panted out, trying to catch her breath as her chest heaved.

Alison just smiled and snuggled down against Emily's side, laying her head on the brunette's chest, listening to her heartbeat begin to calm down. After a few minutes of laying in blissful silence, Alison pulled herself up and grabbed the blanket from the foot of the bed, and laid down again, covering them both in warmth. She threw her leg over the brunette as Emily snaked her arm around Alison and began running her fingers through her blonde locks. Alison took her hand and interlocked fingers with Emily's free hand that rested against her toned stomach.

"Thank you," Emily whispered as she turned her head to place a kiss on the top of Alison's head.

Alison looked up at her. "For what?"

"Everything. For dinner. For inviting me here. For giving us a chance. Just, all of it."

Alison nuzzled down into the crook of Emily's neck. "You don't need to thank me. I'm just glad that you gave me a second chance, and well, a third chance, too, I guess. I know you keep telling me not to be, but I am truly sorry for everything that I ever put you through. I promise I'm never going to intentionally hurt you again. I love you."

Emily gave Alison a sad smile. "I know you are sorry. But you've made it up to me. In more ways than you could ever know. You make me feel like no one else ever has. You make me feel alive again. So the slate is completely clean. No more worries of the past or what _used_ to be. Now, we just look forward to the future. The only thing that matters is me and you, and the little fig." She unlocked their hands and placed her hand on Alison's stomach.

Alison chuckled. "Fig?"

"Yeah, that's how big the baby is. I was doing a little research. It's crazy! Every week they compare the fetus to a different food. 11 weeks is a fig." Emily smiled brightly.

Alison leaned in and gave Emily a kiss. When she pulled back, she looked into the face of the most beautiful person she had ever seen. It didn't matter to her that Emily was a woman. All that mattered was that when she looked into those beautiful brown eyes, she saw her future. She saw love and she saw a family, something she never saw with Elliot. The biggest thing she saw though when looking at Emily: _her soulmate_.

"I love you," Emily whispered as Alison settled back down into Emily's side, their hands join once again.

"I love you, too. Goodnight, Em."

"Sweet dreams, Ali."

Alison fell asleep listening to the sounds of Emily's heartbeat while Emily gently ran her fingers through her hair. They were both at peace, looking forward to the start of their future, _together_.

 **A/N 2: Well, there it is. I hope you all liked it! Let me know what you thought. This is probably going to be my only update for the week. Our landlord is selling out house and having an open house, so I need to clean while I have some time off this week. I will be back in the beginning of next week though with some morning after fluff. To all my fellow Americans who celebrate, have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow, please be safe out on the roads if alcohol is included in your festivities. Everyone else, have a great weekend and I'll see you next week!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hey guys! Happy Monday! I hope you guys are still enjoying this fic. Life has finally calmed down some, so I'm here with the next chapter. It's pure Emison. And I actually am looking for some help. I want to wrap up the Elliot story line within the next couple of chapters, and I know what I want the outcome to be, but I'm toying with a couple ideas. Would you guys like to see him redeemed? Or leave him as the d-bag that he has been so far? Please review and let me know what you want!**

Alison awoke the next morning to more waves of nausea. She knew she was going to be sick, but panicked when she looked over and saw Emily sleeping soundly next to her. She didn't want Emily seeing her like this, especially not after the incredible night they had the night before. She climbed out of bed as quickly as she could, grabbing her sweater on the way and throwing it on over her head as she ran to the guest bathroom down the hall. However, she didn't make it completely to the toilet and vomited along the floor and herself on her way. She groaned as she leaned over the toilet emptying what was left of her dinner from last night. She always hated being sick and this morning sickness thing was kicking her ass. It made it almost impossible to do anything in the mornings on days when it would hit.

There was a light knocking on the door and Alison's head shot up from the toilet. "Ali…" Emily's voice was soft and sweet. "Are you ok?"

Alison cleared her throat and felt the bile rise again. She opened her mouth to answer but was cut off my more retching.

"Ali, I'm coming in." The door opened slowly and Emily peeked her head around the corner. "Oh, Ali." Emily immediately ran over to Alison and knelt down beside her, pulling her hair back and out of her face. Alison felt so humiliated that Emily saw her in that state and all her emotions came rushing out of her in sobs. Emily began running her hand up and down Alison's back, shushing her and telling her everything would be ok.

"I'm sorry," was all Alison could croak out after the heaving and sobbing had subsided.

"For what, exactly?" Emily asked as she handed Alison a wad of tissue to wipe her face with.

"For being so disgusting after last night," Alison cried, but she wasn't hysterical like she had been a couple of minutes ago.

Internally, Emily laughed at the mood swings that Alison already seemed to be exhibiting, but she knew that letting her amusement show wouldn't end well. Instead, she gave Alison a sad smile. "You could never look disgusting in my eyes," Emily said as she placed a soft kiss to Alison's forehead. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

Emily led Alison back into her bedroom and into the ensuite bathroom. She carefully pulled Alison's sweater over her head after turning on the water to the shower. Emily looked back to Alison and the blonde did look awful. Her eyes were puffy and she looked incredibly worn down. She was afraid of leaving Alison alone in the shower, for fear that she could slip and fall, hurting herself or the baby. She turned to Alison and asked shyly, "do you mind if I help you?"

A small smile formed on Alison's lips as she shook her head no. Emily pulled off the pants and shirt that she had thrown on before going to find Alison and helped the blonde into the shower. She took Alison's shampoo and squirted a fair amount into the palm of her hand and lathered it up. She ran her fingers through Alison's hair and massaged her scalp. Alison closed her eyes and hummed at the feeling. When Emily was done washing Alison's hair, she grabbed the loofah and worked some body wash into a rich lather and washed Alison's body. When she was done, she took the shower head and rinsed Alison off. Alison smiled at Emily's kindness. When Alison was rinsed, Emily placed a kiss below Alison's ear. "Go brush your teeth and I'll be out in a second." She offered Alison her hand and Alison stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel to dry herself off. She then grabbed her toothbrush and brushed her teeth while Emily washed herself up. When Emily was done and pulled the shower curtain aside, Alison couldn't help but take in Emily's naked body, water dripping down her legs and breasts.

Emily noticed Alison's eyes raking her body and cleared her throat. Alison's head shot up to meet Emily's gaze and a blush creeped up her cheeks for being caught gawking at the brunette's body. Emily let out a small laugh, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself before getting out of the shower. "Alright, you need to get back into bed and sleep some."

"Only if you come with me and get rid of the towel." Alison had that trademark smirk on her face, but the color still hadn't returned to her face and her eyes still looked glassy.

Emily laughed as she led Alison to the bed. "We both know neither of us will rest if we are both naked."

"Who said anything about resting?"

"Ali, behave," Emily said in a stern voice, but with a small smile so Alison knew she wasn't completely serious.

"Fine," Alison whined as she crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her bottom lip.

Emily grabbed Alison a pair of pajama bottoms and a loose fitting tee to put on. Alison reluctantly complied as Emily threw on a pair of boxers and a tank top. Once she was dressed, she walked over to Alison and laid her down and pulled the covers up to her chin. Emily gave her a kiss to the forehead before whispering, "I'll be right back."

Alison looked at her confusedly as she headed for the door. "What are you doing?"

"Going to clean up your bathroom," Emily said over her shoulder.

"No," Alison shot up and went to go swing her legs over the edge of the bed until Emily stopped her. "It's fine Ali, you need sleep."

"But you don't need to clean up after me. It's not your concern."

Emily walked over to her and placed a soft kiss to her lips. "It became my concern last Friday night when you told me that you wanted to do this with me. So stop being so stubborn and get under the covers. I'll be back in a few minutes and we can snuggle, ok?"

Alison couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she gave Emily a chaste kiss on the lips. "I love you," she said quietly as she laid back down and snuggled into the covers.

Emily smiled. "I love you, too."

Alison felt herself drifting off as soon as her head hit the pillow. She was half asleep when she felt the bed behind her dip and a strong arm snake around her waist. She hummed in contentment as she felt Emily mold against her back. She felt Emily place a gentle kiss to the back of her shoulder and splay her hand out over her stomach. Alison smiled as she placed her hand atop Emily's and laced their fingers together. In that moment, Alison had never felt more protected in all of her life. She knew that everything would be ok with Emily at her side. That was her final thought as she drifted off into a blissful slumber.

XXXXX

Alison began waking up a little while later. She could feel Emily's hand still covering her stomach and squeezed her fingers gently. She could feel Emily's breath against the back of her neck, and knew by the soft rhythm that the brunette was still asleep. She was feeling much better than she had earlier, and decided to have a little fun. She could feel Emily pressed up impossibly close to her. Alison wiggled her backside slightly and began ghosting her fingers over Emily's forearm. She could feel goosebumps begin to form on Emily's olive skin. Alison smiled as she ground her hips back into Emily's front once again. This time, Emily's responded by bringing her hips forward and moving her hand to Alison's hip and pulling her closer. Emily groggily lifted her head and began to place kisses on the back of Alison's neck while her hand moved up and down the front and side of Alison's thigh. Emily began to grind against Alison's soft backside as she moved her kisses to the shell of Alison's ear. Alison moaned at the sensation, snaking her hand around to tangle her fingers into Emily's hair, holding her close as she matched Emily's hip movements.

Alison began to feel arousal pool between her legs as their foreplay went on. She felt Emily's hot breath on her ear and closed her eyes as she reveled in the sensations the brunette was giving her. Suddenly, Emily's body stilled and Alison looked back over her shoulder in confusion. "That was quite the wake up call. I see that someone is feeling better."

Alison turned over so that she was facing Emily. She took Emily's lower lip between her teeth and gave it a gentle tug. "Mmmm, _much_ better," she said against Emily's mouth before pressing her lips into a crushing kiss. Just as she attempted to deepen the kiss, Emily pulled away with a smile. Alison furrowed her brow and saw playfulness in Emily's eyes. She tried to lean back in to capture those beautiful lips again, but again, Emily pulled back, her smile wider this time.

"What?" Alison said while sticking out her bottom lip in a pout.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Emily said while she tucked a stray hair behind Alison's ear and placing her palm against her rosy cheek.

Alison leaned into Emily's touch and closed her eyes. Emily's touch felt amazing to her, so soft and caring. She never realized that someone could show such _emotion_ through a simple touch. But she could _feel_ Emily's love for her with a simple caress of the cheek. She could feel Emily's _desire_ for her by a simple hand on the hip. All of these things she was experiencing with Emily for the first time were beyond anything that Alison had ever imagined for herself. She never wanted this to end. She wanted to hold on to Emily and never let go. And she wasn't planning to any time soon.

"I love you. And I love waking up in your arms." Alison began ghosting her hand up and down Emily's side as she slipped underneath her tank top and tangled their legs together.

"Mmmmm, I love you too," Emily said with a soft kiss to the lips. "And I could _definitely_ get used to waking up to _that_ every morning," she said with a smirk.

"So why don't we continue where we left off before you so _rudely_ pulled away from me," Alison said with a small laugh.

Emily smiled and rolled her eyes in response. "I'm on breakfast duty, remember? How's your appetite? Are you up for some food?"

"I'm up for you," Alison said smoothly as she captured Emily's mouth and slid her tongue past parted lips. Emily hummed in response and returned the kiss for a few moments before pulling back again. Alison frowned.

"Ali, you need to eat. I've read that it can help keep the nausea at bay."

Alison's face softened at the brunette's admission. "How much research have you been doing?"

Emily shrugged, trying to act nonchalant about the question, but the blush creeping up her cheeks gave her away. "I don't know. It helped keep my mind occupied after you told me about the little peanut last week. I was _really_ hoping that you would give me a shot, so I wanted to be prepared if you did."

Alison's heart melted at Emily's confession. With each passing second, she was falling deeper for the beauty laying in her bed. She could see them this way in the future, cuddling in bed together, a little girl or boy of about 3 coming running into the room, giggling while Emily tickled them mercilessly. She knew in that moment that she had made the right decision.

"I'm glad I did. There's no one else I would rather be on this journey with." Alison placed her palm on Emily's cheek and ran her thumb across Emily's bottom lip before kissing her once again. "I want pancakes, and bacon, and fruit." She placed her index finger on her chin in thought. "And maybe some scrambled eggs."

Emily just laughed at the blonde. "I see your appetite is back."

XXXXX

After Emily's breakfast spread had been made and eaten, they both cleaned the kitchen together before plopping down on the couch and deciding on binging something on Netflix. They agreed on House Hunters so that they could make fun of the couples who had _ridiculous_ jobs but had _outrageously expensive_ budgets. They were cuddled close under a blanket, laughing together and enjoying each other's company. It was almost 2 o'clock before they had had enough and decided to do something else.

"Want to go take a walk?" Emily suggested.

"Sure! Let's just go get dressed real quick and then we'll head out."

Getting dressed took longer than it should have, with all the teasing looks and touches being thrown between the two women, but eventually they stepped off of the blonde's front porch and into the crisp autumn air. Emily extended her elbow out to the blonde, who smiled and slipped her arm through. She leaned her weight against Emily before asking where they were headed.

The brunette just shrugged. "I didn't really have a destination in mind, I just felt like walking since I never got my run in this morning." Emily started walking and decided to take a left at the end of Alison's driveway.

"Sorry I made you miss your workout." Alison felt a little guilty throwing off Emily's routine because of her being sick this morning.

Emily nudged Alison gently before turning her head and shooting a wink in the blonde's direction. "Don't worry about it. I got my cardio in last night."

Alison blushed slightly as they continued their walk. After a short while, Alison had an idea. They came to a path off to the left into a thicket of trees. "This way," Alison said as she pulled Emily onto the path. After a little while, the trees opened up into a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a rock with spray paint in various places.

"You wanted to see a rock?" Emily asked, eyebrows raised as she stared straight ahead.

Alison smiled. "Not just _any_ rock." She pulled Emily over to the rock and then climbed up with Emily's help so she was sitting on it, making her slightly taller than the brunette. "This is the kissing rock."

Emily situated herself between Alison's legs and leaned into her. "The _kissing_ rock, huh? What's so special about this rock? It's just a lump of stone."

Alison looked at Emily with a hint of mischief in her eye. Emily thought that glint made Alison seem so childlike and playful and she loved that side of the blonde. "People have been sneaking off here for hundreds of years."

Emily smiled at her and rolled her eyes. "You're making that up."

Alison smirked. "Just because I make it up doesn't mean it's not true." Emily rolled her eyes again and Alison looked at her seriously. "You come here with somebody and you can feel the ghosts of the other lovers, pushing you to do it." She leaned in close to Emily, their lips a mere inch apart. "You know, you should never disappoint a ghost."

Emily closed the distance and pressed her lips against Alison's. Alison hummed into the kiss as she pulled the collar on Emily's jacket to bring her closer. Emily ran her tongue across Alison's bottom lip and Alison complied as their kiss deepened. Alison's hands tangled into the brunette's hair and Emily's hands attached to the blonde's hips, pulling her closer. Alison wrapped her legs around Emily's stomach, while Emily's hands wandered up under Alison's shirt to meet bare skin. Emily's hands found their way underneath Alison's bra and worked their way to cup Alison's perfect breasts. Emily began to knead the soft tissue and Alison let out a moan at the sensation. Her breasts were especially sensitive since finding out she was pregnant and the feeling of Emily's soft hands on them shot a burning straight into her core. Alison deliberately brought her hips into Emily's stomach as Emily's right hand began to pinch her erect nipple. Emily smiled into their kiss as Alison let another moan escape her lips. The two parted from each other, their chests heaving from the need for air and their centers throbbing.

Emily looked into blue eyes and smiled. "I don't think we disappointed."

Alison laughed. "No, _definitely_ not!"

They stood there in silence for a little while, just talking and holding each other. Emily looked at Alison, her eyes filled with curiosity. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"Em, I think we've flew past that point, don't you?" Alison said with a small laugh. Emily returned the smile, before she dropped her gaze. Alison hooked her finger under the brunette's chin to force eye contact. "What is it? You can ask me anything."

Emily bit the inside of her cheek. There was something bugging her, but their time together had been so perfect that she didn't want to ruin it. Alison looked at her in anticipation. Emily took a breath to muster up her courage. "What about Elliot?"

Alison looked at her in confusion. "What about him?"

"He's the father. Where is he going to fit into all this?"

Alison took a second to gather her thoughts before looking Emily straight in the eye. "He will play whatever role he _wants_ to play. I don't think it's going to be a big one though, honestly. He never seemed like he really wanted kids anyway. I mean, we always used condoms… Things that night just happened so fast."

"So he doesn't know yet?"

"No, I haven't spoken to him since that night on my porch."

"Oh, ok." Suddenly, the dirt at the base of the rock became extremely interesting to Emily and there was a beat of awkward silence between them.

Alison frowned as she spoke up, ducking her head to try and meet Emily's downward gaze. "Em, Elliot has _nothing_ to do with this." She motioned her hand between the two of them. She then took Emily's hand and placed it on her own stomach. "This baby, this baby will have two _extremely_ loving moms who will do anything that they can to protect them and keep them safe. This baby will be raised in a household full of _love_ and will grow up to be an amazing _person_ because they will have love in their house. We may not always be perfect, but as long as we have _love_ , there is no way that we can screw this up. Please, don't worry about Elliot."

"But he deserves to know." Emily finally lifted her head and Alison could see two tear marks where drops had fallen. She frowned and kissed each trail before wiping them away.

"I know. I will tell him. _You_ were my priority though. I wanted to work things out with you before I dealt with him. _You_ are my world now. You and this baby. I will tell Elliot at some point this week. I just need to make sure that _you_ are ok. I need to know that _we_ are ok." She gave Emily a sad smile. "Are we?"

Emily nodded. "We are."

"Good, no more crying, please? Everything will be ok now that we have each other." Alison pulled Emily in for a tight hug and she could feel the brunette relax into the embrace. Alison let go of the embrace when the moment was broken up by the grumbling of Emily's stomach. Both women laughed and Alison looked down at her watch. It was close to 5 o'clock and she realized that she was hungry, too. "Did you maybe want to grab some food on the way back?"

"Sounds perfect!" Emily said before giving Alison a quick peck on the lips.

Emily helped Alison climb down and the two locked arms as the headed towards the Grille to grab some dinner.

XXXXX

It was beginning to get dark as they headed back to Alison's, eating their ice cream cones that they had stopped for after dinner at the blonde's request. Alison couldn't remember the last time she felt so relaxed and happy in her life. The day had been perfect in her eyes, minus her little mishap this morning. But thinking back on it, Alison saw another side of Emily, the nurturing side and she knew that Emily would make an _incredible_ mother. She smiled as she nuzzled into the side of the brunette. "I don't want this day to end."

"I know, me neither," Emily sighed as she finished the last of her cone.

"You're going to be an amazing parent, Emily. Please don't let Elliot worry you."

They finally reached Alison's house and Emily sat down on the front steps, pulling Alison down next to her. "I think it's the not knowing that worries me," she stated as she stared ahead into the street.

"What do you mean?" Alison interlaced their fingers and gave Emily's hand a squeeze.

"I mean, I like to prepare, _know_ what's going to happen. And if I don't know, it worries me. I guess I'll feel better either way knowing what role he wants to play in the fig's life, but just right now, I'm scared of the _unknown_."

"I'll tell him tomorrow," Alison said quickly.

"Ali, if you're not ready to tell him, don't rush into anything because of me."

Alison looked up and gave Emily a sad smile. "If something is worrying you and _I_ have the ability to make it better, I'm going to do everything in my power to make that happen. Like I said before, you and this baby are my priorities now. I just want to ease your worries and fears."

Alison was caught off guard by a searing kiss from the brunette. As they pulled apart, Emily rested her forehead to Alison's as she breathed out, "God, I love you, so much."

Alison's face lit up in a beaming smile. "I love you, too. I'll see you tomorrow at school, right?"

"At our usual spot at our usual time."

Alison stood on the porch and watched as Emily's car disappeared down the street. She couldn't wait until tomorrow to talk to Elliot. She needed to talk to him now and get an answer from him. There was a part of her that just wanted Elliot to completely give up his rights to the baby. But she didn't want to get her hopes up, knowing that Elliot would probably fight her tooth and nail just to be the asshole that he is. Pulling her cell from her pocket, she punched a familiar number into her phone and listened to the line ring on the other end.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. I wanted to get this to you ASAP. Honestly, I may only have one more update of this fic this month. I am not abandoning this by any means, but I have to focus on some professional stuff in order to keep my certification when it expires at the end of the year. Ya know, so I can keep my job and all that. I am hoping to get a Christmas chapter out, though. Hopefully I still have people reading this. Again, sorry for the delay and apologies n advance for the lack of updates coming this month. Once I get through the New Year I am looking to start wrapping this all up. Thanks to those of you who have commented so far. Enjoy!**

The next morning, Emily woke up much earlier than usual, excited to see her girlfriend after such an amazing weekend. _Am I her girlfriend? We really need to establish what we are,_ Emily thought to herself. She quickly sent off a good morning message to the blonde that had invaded her dreams last night and then headed into the shower to get ready for her day. When she returned, she saw her phone flashing with a waiting message.

 **Good morning to you too, beautiful :) I missed you last night. – Ali x**

 **I missed you, too. My bed isn't as comfortable as yours is ;) – Em x**

 **My bed isn't as comfortable without you in it ;) Maybe we could have another sleepover soon? – Ali x**

 **I would love that! – Em x**

 **I'll see you in a little bit and we can figure out something. – Em xo**

Alison stared down at her phone and smiled. She couldn't believe the weekend that she had had with the brunette. Saturday night had been the most peaceful she had slept in a _very_ long time and she missed being in Emily's arms more than she could have ever imagined last night. Waking up with the brunette in her bed was one of the best mornings of her life, even if she did experience a bout of morning sickness. But the way Emily was so caring and considerate made her heart race. She got to see a whole other side to the brunette, one that just confirmed that Alison had made the right choice on Friday night.

She put the finishing touches on her makeup and headed out the door. She couldn't wait to see Emily. Just being in Emily's presence was something that could make her entire day. They didn't have to be talking or doing anything, really, but just _being_ together put Alison's mind at such ease. She hoped that she had the same effect on Emily. She smiled pulling into her usualy spot at the high school when she noticed a familiar brunette walking up the front steps with her duffle bag. Alison hurried out of the car and headed in Emily's direction.

"Em, wait up!" Alison called as she reached the end of the sidewalk.

Emily turned around and gave Alison one of her best smiles. Emily began to back track, not being able to wait for the blonde any longer than necessary. As soon as she was within arms reach, she scooped Alison up into a hug and buried her face into her neck, taking in Alison's scent that she had come to love. Once they pulled apart, Alison's arms hung loosely around Emily's neck while Emily's arm were around the blonde's waist. They stood there, blue eyes locked onto brown for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a matter of seconds. Both had smiles on their faces that were making their cheeks hurt, but neither one cared.

"Hi, gorgeous." Emily smiled into Alison's blue eyes.

Alison gave her a dimpled smile. Glancing around quickly, she knew they were two of the first people to arrive at the school and there was no one around. Alison leaned in, unable to stop herself, and also, not wanting to stop herself, and placed a chaste kiss onto Emily's perfect lips. Emily smiled into the kiss.

"I missed those lips," Alison breathed out.

"So did I," Emily smiled. Removing Alison's hands from around her neck, Emily laced their fingers together before guiding Alison into the school. "C'mon, we have a coffee date to get to!"

XXXXX

It was still early, so they had the teacher's lounge to themselves. Alison took the duffle off Emily's shoulder and headed to a table. Emily threw her a grateful smile as she headed over to the coffee station. After making her own coffee and fixing a decaffeinated tea just the way Alison liked it, she headed over to the smiling blonde waiting for her at their usual table.

"You know, your cheeks are going to be sore by the end of today," Emily said with a wink as she sat down in the chair next to Alison and handed her the tea.

"I can't help it. You just make me so happy."

Emily felt her heart melt at the words falling from Alison's lips. She, too, felt the same way. Ever since they cleared the air and decided to start over all those months ago, Emily felt herself smiling more than she could ever remember. Alison put a _genuine_ smile on her face and now with the events of the past 72 hours, she didn't see that smile fading anytime soon.

"Yeah?" Emily asked, earning a nod in response from the blonde. "Well, that's good then, because you make me happy, too."

"I really did miss you last night," Alison said as she pushed out her bottom lip in a pout.

"Me too. Your bed was so warm yesterday morning," Emily replied.

"So…. Stay again, tonight?" A slight blush crept up Alison's cheeks as she was suddenly embarrassed to have asked the question, afraid of how the brunette will take it. She saw Emily look away at another table that had just become occupied by another teacher while visibly chewing on the inside of her cheek. She could tell that Emily is thinking hard about the question, and suddenly felt the need to take it back. Before she had time to retract her question, though, Emily spoke again.

"I thought you were calling Elliot tonight. You know, to tell him." Emily asked, trying to avoid eye contact with the blonde, instead looking down at the paper cup in her hands.

"I, um, called him last night after you left."

Emily's head shot up as she turned in her chair to better face Alison. "You did? Why? You didn't seem ready to tell him when I left you yesterday."

"It was because of what you said. About how you just wanted to know so you could prepare and didn't have to worry. I wanted to ease your mind some if I could. So I called him immediately after you left."

Emily felt herself falling harder for the woman sat next to her. The fact that Alison would put her own troubles and worries aside to make Emily more comfortable spoke volumes to the brunette. She couldn't believe the way that things worked out sometimes. How an experience that was so _bad_ , had, years later, become so _good_. How two people could cause so much turmoil in each other's lives, to grow up and unexpectedly fall in love as adults. Sometimes, it felt overwhelming to the brunette if she thought about it all too much. So, instead, she reached under the table and took Alison's hand in her own before lacing their fingers together. She gave the hand a squeeze before speaking once more. "How did it go?"

Alison took a moment to remember back on her conversation with Elliot.

 _Alison dialed the familiar number and waited for an answer on the other line. She heard the click of the call being picked up and the only way Alison knew the call was connected was by the sound of breathing on the other end. Alison took a breath and just wanted to get this call over with._

 _"Elliot, it's Alison."_

 _"What do you want?" His voice carried the venom that it so often did towards the end._

 _"Um, there's something I need to tell you…"_

 _"Spit it out then"_

 _"I'm pregnant…"_

 _There was a long pause on the phone, but Alison could hear Elliot's heavy breathing. "Well, isn't that just lovely? Congratulations to the two of you." His voice was dripping with sarcasm and Alison rolled her eyes._

 _"Elliot, it's yours." She sighed into the phone._

 _After another moment's pause, Elliot continued. "Are you staying with that_ bitch _? Raising the baby in that house of sin?"_

 _"Don't talk about Emily like that!"_

 _"My, my. Look who's grown a back bone now? How is that baby going to have a normal life with 2 carpet munchers raising it, huh?"_

 _Alison was furious now. "How fucking dare you! Better than having the baby raised with_ you _as it's father!"_

 _"Are you going to keep me from_ my _baby?" Elliot seethed on the other end of the line._

 _Alison sighed. She had known Elliot was going to try to rile her up, and it had worked like a charm. She rolled her eyes at herself for taking the bait. "Look, Elliot, I don't expect anything from you, I don't want your money or your support. I am perfectly capable of raising this baby without you. I just, I thought you should know. I really hope that you can find some way to put aside your differences with me and be a part of this child's life." Alison was going to be the better person here. As much as she hated Elliot, it wouldn't be fair to her child for_ her _to be the reason he or she didn't know their father. "This child will be raised in a loving home that won't include you, but I really hope you find a way to be there for this child. But, I will tell you this right now." Alison clenched her jaw before continuing. "If you ever verbally attack Emily like you did that night or you come after_ my _family, you_ will _be sorry."_

 _There was a long pause on the phone before Alison heard Elliot's voice again. She could tell that he was livid. "Was that a_ threat _, Alison?"_

 _"No, it's a promise." Alison had had enough of Elliot's games and hung up on the call. She plopped down on the couch and let out a breath of air. She really did hope that Elliot could be a father in some capacity. She didn't have her hopes up, however. She wanted to keep her child safe, but it wasn't_ her _call to deny her child a chance to know their father. She knew Elliot would probably fuck it up anyway, and let the kid down time and time again. She just hoped that giving Elliot a chance was the right decision._

She knew that Elliot wasn't going to make it easy on her, but she had hoped that maybe life would throw her a bone and just make something easy for her, for once. "I don't know. I didn't get a straight answer from him." Alison felt a pleasant pressure on her hand as Emily increased her grip once again. "He started insulting you again, told me _his_ kid wouldn't grow up in a house of sin."

"Ali, I'm so sorry." Emily gave Alison a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah, so I told him that I hoped he would grow up but if he ever messed with you or my family again, he'd be sorry." Alison shrugged nonchalantly as she took a sip of her tea.

Emily looked at her with her mouth agape, before her lips slowly turned into a smirk as she saw a little bit of the "feisty, old Alison" come out to play. She had to admit, it was pretty hot when _she_ herself wasn't on the receiving end of it. "Thank you," the brunette said, almost so soft that Alison hadn't heard.

Alison reached out and placed her hand over Emily's before giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm not making the same mistake again. I _love_ you and I will _never_ let anyone talk to you or about you like that again. I don't care _who_ they are."

Emily gave Alison one of her best smiles. "So, um, there was something I wanted to ask you that popped into my head this morning," Emily asked, suddenly looking incredibly shy.

"Em, you can ask me anything."

Emily stared into the most gorgeous blue eyes she had ever seen. She would never get tired of staring into them. Alison's eyes made her want to melt into them, like they were Emily's own personal oceans, for her and her alone to enjoy. Emily looked at their hands for a moment and took a deep breath. "Will you, um…" She brought her gaze back to those eyes and she was instantly calmed. She saw Alison looking at her with nothing but love in those eyes. "Will you be my girlfriend?" Emily asked with a smile on her face.

Alison matched her smile and her dimples popped. She squeezed Emily's hand and stared back into those chocolate eyes that held everything she wanted for her future in them. "Yes! Of course!" She wanted to scream from the rooftops that Emily Fields was officially off the market and was _hers!_ She inched forward slightly, eyes flickering down to Emily's lips.

Emily gently placed her hand on her shoulder and pushed her back. "Not here," she said in a low tone. More teachers were beginning to file in now that it was getting closer to the first bell. It would be about 20 minutes before the first buses started arriving, though. Alison gave a quirk of her eyebrow as Emily slowly got up and grabbed her duffle bag, throwing a wink over her shoulder at Alison who was still in her seat. Taking her cue, Alison quickly drank the rest of her tea before getting up and making her way out of the teacher's lounge.

She looked around as she exited the room, but didn't see Emily anywhere in sight. She frowned as she made her way down the hall, confused about where her _girlfriend_ took off to. Her heart fluttered at the thought of Emily being her girlfriend. She had never been this excited about being in a relationship with anyone before. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as it replaced the frown from a few seconds before. As she reached the end of the hallway, she felt a hand grip her wrist from behind. Before she knew it, she was being pulled into the girls locker room and towards the Phys. Ed. office within.

"Em, where did you go?"

"I had to make sure there were no students that snuck in here early this morning." Emily flashed a smile over her shoulder at the blonde, who looked confused at the whole thing.

"But, why?"

Emily dragged her into the office, shutting and locking the door behind them before closing the blinds. Alison wasn't sure she had ever seen the brunette move so fast. "So I can do this." In one shift motion, Emily grabbed Alison's hips and spun her around before pushing her back into the door. Emily's lips hungrily found her own, swallowing a moan that immediately escaped Alison's throat after the pressure of Emily's body pressed up against her own ignited her body. Alison's hands began to frantically roam Emily's body, eventually coming to rest on Emily's ass. Emily shifted so she had one leg between Alison's and smiled against the blonde's mouth as she felt Alison grind down onto her thigh while pulling her in closer. Emily began trailing kisses along Alison's jawline, eventually finding the shell of her ear and running her tongue along the length of it. Alison's mouth fell open at the sensations Emily was creating. Emily's right hand found its way towards Alison's breast as she began kneading it through the blonde's blouse while her left hand was flat against the door. Alison ground down onto Emily's thigh once more, her skirt riding up dangerously high, this time whimpering as she didn't get as much friction as she needed. Emily pulled back at the sound and looked into Alison's eyes. Her pupils were blown, but Emily could still tell that the blue was quite a few shades darker than it had been when they first walked in. Emily smiled as she knew that she had successfully riled her girlfriend up. However, Alison's libido was in full swing now and Emily had started something that she _needed_ to finish if she had any hopes of getting through the day.

Emily laid one more short kiss on Alison's lips before trying to pull away. She was stopped, however, by Alison's fisting of her shirt, keeping her close. Emily noticed the pained look on Alison's face and the way that she continued one last try to gain some friction where she desperately needed it. "You started this, I _need_ you to finish it," Alison panted as she tried to steady her breathing, but she was failing miserably.

Emily gave her a smirk and leaned impossibly close before whispering in Alison's ear. "What do you _need_ , baby?" She then ran her tongue along her earlobe before taking it into her mouth and sucking on it.

Alison thought her knees where going to buckle. "I, I need to feel you. I need you to _fuck_ me."

That was all Emily needed to hear before she pressed her body further into Alison while pulling her skirt and gathering it around her waist. She then worked her hands to unbutton Alison's blouse, opening it enough to snake her hand underneath Alison's bra and pinch her hardening nipple. Alison let out a muffled moan against Emily's lips. Emily's lips worked their way down Alison's cleavage, kissing and sucking the soft skin of her exposed chest. Wrapping her left arm behind the blonde to hold her up, Emily's right hand worked its way between Alison's legs. Emily smiled against Alison's skin at the dampness of the blonde's underwear. "Someone's a little excited, huh?" Emily said as she slipped Alison's underwear to the side and slid a finger through the length of her folds, covering it in wetness.

"Em, please." The begging was apparent in Alison's voice.

There was two things that Emily had read about that she found very intriguing in her research on pregnancy. The first was all about morning sickness and how to alleviate it so Alison didn't have to suffer so much. After seeing Alison like she had been on Sunday morning, she felt awful for the blonde, but knew it came with the territory. Still, she wanted to help out in any way that she could. The second thing that she was fascinated by was the fact that pregnant women are often extremely horny. Something about the flood of hormones affecting their libido and sending it into over drive. Emily _thought_ it was interesting, but didn't really put much stock into that factoid. However, seeing Alison in the state she was now, she knew that it was one hundred percent true. Alison was _begging_ for her from the moment Emily pushed her up against the door and kissed her. She knew it would get a reaction out of her, but she was _not_ expecting this. She was _loving_ every minute of this and made a mental note for future reference.

Emily decided to indulge Alison and slipped two fingers into Alison. Alison immediately pushed down, feeling Emily deep inside of her. Alison hooked a crooked finger under Emily's chin, bringing her face back to hers and connecting their lips in a deep, hungry kiss. Alison's hand tangled into Emily's hair as Emily continued to move in and out of Alison, pushing harder and faster with each thrust. Emily curled her fingers and Alison felt the familiar burning beginning to build in the pit of her stomach. She hooked her right leg around Emily's thigh and pulled the brunette in closer. Emily could feel Alison's walls tightening around her and knew she was close, so she began rubbing circles over the blonde's clit with her thumb. Emily had made a few swipes when she felt Alison begin to tremble against her. She broke their kiss just long enough to mumble, "let go, baby," before capturing Alison's lips again and swallowing the moans and profanity pouring from Alison's mouth as her orgasm ripped through her. Emily didn't let up, letting Alison savor every last drop of pleasure until she was finally stilled when the blonde reached down and grabbed her wrist.

Alison leaned her head back against the door, trying to regain her normal breathing, while Emily peppered her neck with small kisses. Once Alison's breathing had almost returned to normal, she dropped her leg from around Emily's thigh as Emily slipped out of her. Alison loved the feel of Emily inside of her and missed the feel of Emily's fingers as soon as they were gone. "You're incredible, you know that?" Alison couldn't believe how amazing Emily made her feel. She never felt like this with Elliot. Sex with Elliot was boring, mundane. But sex with Emily? God, Alison had never experienced anything like it before. Sex with Emily was _exciting_ and so, so _hot._ She wanted Emily all the time, and she had a feeling that it wasn't just the hormones to blame. Emily did something to her and she knew that feeling would never go away.

Emily just smiled back at her before leaning in for a much less heated, loving kiss. "I love you, Ali. So much. Can you get through the day now?" Emily smirked, knowing the state Alison was in a few minutes ago.

Alison began adjusting her skirt and buttoning her shirt back up. "Well, my underwear are _completely_ ruined, but at least I've gotten some energy out so I should be able to focus _enough_." Alison said with a wink.

"You know, you could just leave your underwear here for me for the day." A sly smirk formed on Emily's face.

Alison's eyes widened and she felt a blush creep up her neck at what Emily had just suggested. Flustered, she turned around and unlocked the door and headed into one of the bathroom stalls to clean herself up before heading to her classroom. She needed to get out of there before things got heated again. Emily stood in her office, leaning up against her desk, with the smirk still on her face, watching Alison's hips sway back and forth as she walked away. She couldn't get enough of Alison, and she never wanted to. She was falling deeper with every second that passed. She knew that their future was going to be incredible together.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I'm back! Thank you for everyone who has stuck with this story! And I was even surprised that I seemed to have picked up a few readers on my little hiatus! I deleted the old chapter 18, and am bringing you actual story content! A lot happens in this chapter. It's basically Thanksgiving and part of Christmas rolled into one. The next chapter is going to be immediately following Christmas and New Years. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's about 5,200 words, so I hope it was worth the wait! So without further ado, here you go! Oh yeah, I literally just finished this too, and didn't read through it very much to edit it, so I apologize if there are any spelling/grammatical errors. I'm usually a stickler for that, but I didn't want you guys waiting anymore.**

It had been almost 2 months since Emily and Alison had made it official, and their relationship was growing stronger each day. After the first couple of weeks, Emily spent every weekend at Alison's. Mondays became hard for them, having to return to work and "the real world" where Emily only spent a couple of weeknights with Alison. Alison wanted to persuade Emily to stay more often, but she knew that Emily felt guilty about leaving Pam alone so much. She knew that Emily put a lot of pressure on herself being the "only one left that her mom had". She tried not to push the subject, but things were becoming increasingly serious between the two of them.

Emily was there for Alison for everything she needed, whether it was a shoulder to cry on when her hormones decided to open the waterworks during a sappy commercial, or those few times Emily has made a middle of the night grocery run for some rocky road ice cream that the blonde _needed_ in that moment. Emily had been with her to every doctor's appointment so far also, even though it had only been a couple because she only went every month at this point. But hearing the baby's heartbeat for the first time had been one of the best moments of Emily's life. Alison had studied her face carefully, once she felt Emily squeeze her hand significantly harder once the sound was turned on to the machine. Alison swore she could see Emily _literally_ falling in love right before her eyes. She wondered if that was the same look that she had in her eyes when she had heard the heartbeat for the first time. Seeing the look of complete love in Emily's face had made the blonde fall even more in love with her girlfriend. She wanted Emily to move in with her, be a real family, but she wasn't quite sure if Emily was ready for that. But Alison came up with a plan. A plan she planned on executing on Christmas.

XXXXX

It was finally Christmas morning and Emily awoke with an excitement that she hadn't had in years. It had been so long since she felt like her life was finally where it should be, if she even ever felt like it before. She looked down at the beautiful blonde in her arms and smiled. Alison really did complete her. She had fallen head over heels for this woman. She loved that they would be able to spend the entire day together for their first Christmas. Initially, Emily had felt guilty leaving her mother alone on Christmas morning, but Pam had insisted that she and Alison should be together that morning.

 _"Are you sure, mom? I can tell Alison I'm going to stay here tonight." Emily asked, guilt washing over her face._

 _"No, honey, you made plans with Alison to be with her tonight. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." Pam said reassuringly._

 _"You know I do, though. I don't want you to be lonely. I know how hard special occasions are for you without dad." Emily gave her mom a sad smile._

 _"I know, Emmy." Pam walked forward and wrapped her daughter in a tight hug, one which the younger brunette quickly reciprocated. After about a minute, Pam pulled away, keeping her hands on Emily's shoulders. "Your father would want you to make your own memories with Alison. All he ever wanted was for you to be happy. I know he is so proud of you and your relationship. The way you've stepped up when you didn't have to. We're_ both _so proud of you, honey."_

 _A tear slipped down Emily's cheek as she closed the distance and embraced her mom once again. "I love you, Mom."_

 _"I love you too, Emmy."_

 _Emily backed up with a sniffle and wiping of her cheeks. "But you'll come to Alison's for brunch, right? And exchange presents?" Her eyes were hopeful and Pam couldn't help of being reminded of times when Emily was little and had that same look asking Santa for her wish list._

 _Pam just smiled back and wiped a stray tear from Emily's jawline. "Of course, honey. Will 11 o'clock be ok?"_

 _Emily's face lit up like it was already Christmas morning. "Perfect! I'll see you tomorrow! I love you!"_

 _Pam couldn't help but chuckle at the excitement in her daughter's voice. "I love you, too! Tell Alison I said hi and I'll see you both in the morning!"_

Emily glanced over at the clock and saw that it was already 8 o'clock. Emily hated having to wake Alison up, but she was excited to give the blonde her gift, plus her mom was going to be there in 3 hours and they still needed to get ready. Emily reached with her free hand and gently placed it on Alison's growing baby bump. This ever growing bump had quickly become one of Emily's favorite spots to rest her hands while they were cuddling. Alison thought it was adorable that no matter what position they were in, _at least_ _one_ of Emily's hands rested on her bump. Emily began rubbing circles along Alison's bare skin with her thumb while she placed a couple of small kisses to the top of Alison's head. Alison began to stir and looked up at Emily groggily.

Emily smiled at how radiant Alison always looked first thing in the morning, her natural beauty shining through. "Good morning, beautiful. Merry Christmas."

Alison stretched her body before settling back into Emily's side, throwing her leg across the brunette's thigh while snaking her hand around her waist and pulling her close. "Mmmm, Merry Christmas." Alison turned her face up and smiled at Emily with sleep filled eyes before pouting her lips asking for a kiss, which was quickly granted. Alison snuggled back down into Emily, laying her head on her chest and listening to the rhythmic beating of her heart. "I don't want to leave this spot," Alison whined against Emily's skin.

Emily let out a soft chuckle. "Babe, my mom is going to be here in a few hours and we need to cook." Alison let out a soft groan before Emily continued. "And besides, I cannot wait to see the look on your face when you open your present." Emily looked down at Alison with a smirk on her face. She rolled her eyes as Alison shot up out of bed and all but ran to the bedroom door, leaving Emily chuckling to herself and trailing behind in the wake of blonde curls.

By the time Emily walked down the stairs, the blonde was already sitting next to the tree, legs tucked underneath her, frantically sorting through the boxes and stacking them into piles. "Those better not all be for me," Emily said as she took a seat on the floor with her back against the couch.

Alison just rolled her eyes and shook her head at her girlfriend. "This is our first Christmas together, and I wanted to show you how much I love you and appreciate you."

Emily leaned forward and grabbed Alison's hand and pulled the blonde towards her, so that Alison was straddling her lap. "I don't need a lot of gifts from you. _You_ ," Emily put one hand on Alison's stomach, "and this _baby_ , are all the gift I could ever want or need for the rest of my life." Emily's smile was ear-to-ear and reached her eyes.

Alison couldn't help but smile at the brunette's words and facial expression. She leaned in and kissed Emily passionately before pulling back after a few seconds. She smiled at Emily and then placed one final kiss to her nose before declaring, "I love you, but you're a cheeseball." Emily's smile faltered and she stuck her bottom lip out into a pout as Alison climbed off of her lap to retrieve a stack of presents. "You first," Alison smiled as she climbed back onto Emily's legs, straddling them once more.

Emily made quick work of her pile, thanking Alison after each present, as she really wasn't expecting Alison to go all out for her. She had never really thought that her love was anything special, but Alison wanted her to know how much she appreciated Emily's love. Once her stack was complete, she swatted playfully at Alison to get off her lap so she could get the blonde's pile. She had snuck them behind the tree late last night after Alison had fallen asleep. Alison had stirred slightly, asking in a groggy voice where the brunette was going.

 _"My mom sent me a message, asking me to call her. I'll be right back."_ _Emily snuck quietly out of the room, making sure to grab her phone to keep the rouse legitimate. Once she had brought the presents in from the car, she found a spot behind the tree, partially hidden by the high-backed chair adjacent to the Christmas tree. She smiled at one present in particular, excited to see the look on her girlfriend's face when she opened it. She quietly made her way back upstairs to bed, climbing back under the covers and pressing her front into Alison's back, becoming the big spoon once more. She felt Alison shift and settle back against her._

 _"Everything ok?" Alison asked, half-mumbled in her sleep-induced state._

 _"Everything's fine, my mom just had a question about what to bring tomorrow. Go back to sleep." Emily pressed a kiss to blonde locks, the blonde muffling a response before her breathing evened out and she was once again asleep. Emily smiled to herself, wanting Christmas to come as soon as possible._

Emily brought the pile of presents and set it in front on the blonde's spot on the floor. Alison narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her girlfriend. "When did you sneak these in here?" Emily gave a tight lipped smile and looked away from those blue eyes that pulled the truth from her more often than not. Alison moved her head to make eye contact with Emily, but the brunette kept avoiding her gaze. "Your mom didn't have a question for you last night, did she?" Emily couldn't keep a straight face anymore. "Emily Fields! You sneaky bitch!" Alison's hands quickly grabbed at Emily's sides, tickling her until she finally confessed.

"Fine!" Emily took a few deep breaths once Alison was done ticking her. "I lied last night! I just needed an excuse to get away to bring them in from the car!"

"So is this a new thing? You lying to me?" Alison really wasn't mad, but wanted to make her girlfriend squirm a little bit. She narrowed her eyes and stared intensely at Emily.

Emily knew what Alison was up to and wanted to squirm under the blonde's gaze, but decided instead to have a little fun back. Emily grabbed both of Alison's wrists and held them in the air between them, before leaning in so their lips were almost touching. "Forgive me?"

Alison felt Emily's breath wash over her face. It was _almost_ enough to make her break her little game. "Mmmmm, I don't think so," Alison smirked.

Emily raised an eyebrow before bringing her lips to her girlfriend's ear, placing soft, gentle kisses to the shell before whispering, "please?"

"Maybe just a little more convincing," Alison breathed out as she closed her eyes at the feeling of Emily's lips on her skin. It was a feeling that she knew she would never tire of.

Emily's lips moved to Alison's jawline, leaving a few kisses before trailing up to the spot just below her ear that she knew drove Alison crazy. She sucked gently before nipping the skin, causing a moan to escape Alison's lips before she gently pushed Emily away and subsequently, reluctantly, ended the game she had started. "Alright! You're forgiven! Now give me my presents!"

Emily chuckled as she began handing Alison her gifts. She enjoyed watching the blonde open her gifts. When the last present was opened, Emily pulled out one she had set to the side. "I have one more for you."

Alison took the rectangular shaped present from Emily's hand. "This is all too much, Em. You really shouldn't have."

"Just open it."

Alison slowly pulled back the green and red wrapping paper and gasped in shock. She took the book and turned it over in her hands, not believing what she was holding in her possession. "Em…" was all Alison's brain would allow her to speak.

"I know your copy was getting a little worn. And I think that day in the teacher's lounge was a turning point for us, so I thought you could always think of me when you saw it." Emily was suddenly feeling very shy. She watched Alison turn the book over in her hands, gently paging through the aging sheets of paper between the spine. When Emily first got the idea in her head of getting her another copy of _Great Expectations_ , she knew it needed to be something _special_. She scoured the internet for days, trying to find a first edition copy of the book, and eventually found one in a small bookstore a few towns over in Ravenswood. "Do you like it?"

Alison looked into beautiful brown eyes and her heart melted. She couldn't believe that the woman sitting across from her would do something like this for her. To get her something so _special_ and hard to find. "A first edition? Em, how did you even _find_ this?"

"It only took a little bit of searching online," Emily shrugged, for some reason feeling shy about the reaction that she had gotten out of the blonde and wanting to act like it wasn't as huge of a deal as it was. But the truth was, ever since Thanksgiving, their relationship had been soaring to new heights. At first, neither girl was that excited about Thanksgiving this year, with this being only the second without her father for Emily and Alison's first year after her break up with Elliott. Even though they had each other, they didn't want to sit through awkward family dinners with their relationship still so fairly young. That was, until Alison got a call from her brother, asking what she was doing for the holiday. When she initially told him that they didn't have any plans, he begged her to do _something_.

 _"Come on, Ali, please?" Jason begged her over the phone._

 _"If you want to have a Thanksgiving dinner so badly, why don't_ you _host one?" Alison's moods had been very up and down lately, and Jason just happened to catch her on a downswing._

 _Jason took it in stride, however. He was used to "bitchy" Ali from when they were kids. "First off, I don't have an_ actual _kitchen to cook in. And second, where would we all sit? On my sofa?"_

 _Alison rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for her brother right now. "Then just go_ out _to eat, by yourself. I'm_ not _in the mood this year."_

 _Jason's voice got soft suddenly. "Well, I wouldn't be eating alone."_

 _"What do you mean?" Alison's curiosity was piqued._

 _"See, that's why I was kind of hoping you would be doing something this year. I, I kind of met someone. And her family isn't going to be together and she's bummed about it, so I was hoping maybe I could include her in my_ own _family dinner. I just, I need a family dinner to go to first."_

 _Alison leaned her elbows against the counter and bent forward. "So, big brother has a girlfriend?! What's her name? Where'd you meet?" Alison starting spitting out questions teasingly._

 _"Whoa, sis, relax. We've only been on a couple of dates, but she's kinda bummed because her parents got divorced not that long ago, and both her parents are seeing other people, so her family stuff is basically non-existent this year. Her brother is going to be skiing with his girlfriend's family in Aspen. She literally has no one. So please, Ali?"_

 _Alison rolled her eyes at her brother's pleading tone. He really didn't need it, because she was ready to say yes just because she felt bad for the girl. She thought for a second that it would be nice to have a house full of people again. She actually did enjoy it when her and Elliott would host parties and Holidays. She just hated the alcohol infused fights that usually came with them, also. But Emily was_ nothing _like him. Emily was kind, and sweet, and caring. She knew that Emily would help her out, unlike Elliott ever did. "Fine, I'll cook!" Alison said with fake annoyance. "But you're buying the turkey!" Alison threw in as he thanked her over and over._

 _They talked for a few more minutes, Alison learning that this new girl actually was from Rosewood and went to high school with her. She racked her brain trying to picture who it was, but her pregnancy brain made her feel like she was in a fog all the time, so recalling details about_ anything _really was near impossible. She told Emily that they would be hosting Thanksgiving and Emily seemed rather excited, asking if she could invite her mom, to which Alison looked at her like she had three heads and just responded, "don't be stupid, of course she's invited!"_

 _"Jason's bringing someone," Alison said as she folded laundry on her bed while Emily lounged with her feet on the bed watching._

 _"Oh really? He's got a girlfriend?"_

 _"He says they aren't official, but he must really like her if he wants to do something special for her on Thanksgiving."_

 _"Well, it will be fun! Could be a good distraction for us all!"_

 _Alison playfully leaned forward and kissed Emily gently on the lips. "I love you."_

 _"Love you, too"_

 _The day of Thanksgiving came and Pam was the first to arrive. Shortly after, the doorbell rang again. "That must be Jason," Alison called out from the kitchen. "Em, can you get it, please?"_

 _"Sure," Emily said as she strode over, opening the door. "Hey, Ja-" But the words got caught in her throat and her eyes bugged as she looked at the face standing across the threshold. "Aria?" Emily asked in complete disbelief._

 _"Em?" Aria couldn't believe her eyes._

 _"What are you?" They both asked in unison, before laughing and bringing each other in for a hug. Jason looked on with his eyebrow raised._

 _"So I take it you two know each other, then?" He asked._

 _"Yeah, we, uh, we actually went to middle school together!" Emily replied. She couldn't believe that one of her best friends growing up was dating her girlfriend's brother. What were the odds of that? She was looking forward to catching up with the tiny brunette._

 _"And high school, until you left us and moved to Texas! What are you doing back here?" Aria asked._

 _"Actually, mom and I moved back about a year ago, after my dad died."_

 _Aria's face dropped and she pulled Emily into a hug. "Oh, Em, I'm so sorry."_

 _"Thanks, me too." Emily said softly. "Come in, out of the cold!"_

 _They stepped into the foyer and after introducing Aria and Alison, Emily took their coats. After chatting for a while, Alison announced it was time to eat. They all sat down, Alison at the head of the table, with Emily and Pam on one side and Jason and Aria on the other. Once they had all eaten to capacity, Emily and Pam cleaned up while Alison relaxed with Jason and Aria, her fatigue setting in from the busy day they'd had. Once everyone was gone, Alison yawned as Emily plopped down on the couch next to her, putting her arms around the blonde and pulling her in close to her body._

 _"This was fun," Alison said, stifling another yawn. "Exhausting, but fun."_

 _Emily laughed lightly at how cute Alison was. "Yeah, I want to do this every year."_

 _Alison looked up at Emily. "Yeah? You really mean it?"_

 _Emily sighed contently. "Yeah, this place really felt like home today, you know? Full of love and laughter. It was crazy that Aria was here, but it was nice to see her after so long." Alison slid her hand up under Emily's shirt, drawing random patterns along tanned skin and feeling strong muscles twitch and contract beneath them. Emily hummed at the feeling before continuing. "I have to admit, there was more than one occasion today, where I imagined a little kid in the mix with us, making a mess of their high chair, corn on the ground and mashed potatoes in their hair."_

 _Alison closed her eyes and smiled at the thought. "I imagined it, too, today. A little boy or girl, running around, playing hide and seek with their cousin while the adults enjoyed each other's company."_

 _"Oh yeah? You're imaging Jason's kids in the mix here, too?" Emily laughed._

 _Alison joined in. "Well, it_ could _be a little brother or sister to play with instead of a cousin." She looked into Emily's eyes and saw them start to mist over. "I love you, Emily Fields. I can't wait for those moments with you."_

 _Emily's throat clenched at the emotion in Alison's voice. "Me too, Ali. Me too."_

Alison leaned in and slowly kissed Emily, trying to pour every happy, positive emotion she could possibly feel into it. As she leaned back, she smiled at Emily. "I kind of have one more gift for you."

Emily looked taken aback. "Ali, I really don't need anything else. Seriously, this is all too much already."

Alison gave her a knowing look, her way of silently telling her girlfriend "don't be silly" before reaching into her robe and pulling a small box out of the pocket. She nervously handed the box over to Emily, who had a shy smile on her face. She opened the box and her brow furrowed. She picked up the tiny metal trinket and held it between her thumb and forefinger. She raised an eyebrow questioningly at Alison.

"It's a key. Well, you know that, obviously. But it's _my_ key. I mean, to my house."

Emily's heart skipped a beat. She knew what she wanted the key to mean, but she wanted to hear what Alison's intentions were with this gift. "What does it _mean_ though?"

Alison avoided eye contact with Emily, suddenly feeling like it was a dumb idea. That their relationship was too new for this big of a step. She felt Emily's fingers under her chin, guiding her gaze back to chocolate eyes filled with hope. She took a deep breath. "It means that I don't want you to leave. I mean, you can if you want to and just use it whenever. But I _hate_ when you're not here. I hate that my bed smells like you but it's not you there next to me. I hate waking up without you beside me. I just always want you _here._ But if it's too soon, that's fine. It's too soon isn't it? This was dumb…" Alison began to panic as she looked away from Emily's intense gaze.

Suddenly Alison felt a warm hand on her cheek as Emily's hand gently guided her face so she was looking at her again. Her thumb gently stroked Alison's cheek and the blonde instinctively leaned into the touch. Emily leaned in close so their foreheads rested against each other. A smile crept onto her face as she asked, "Are you saying you want me to move in?" Emily truly looked like a kid on Christmas morning, who just opened the one present that they had been asking for for months from Santa. Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and excitement.

Alison felt her own nerves being washed away by Emily's emotions flowing through her soft touch to her cheek. "If you want to, I would want nothing more," Alison spoke softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Emily leaned in and captured Alison's lips with a kiss full of love. She ran her tongue across Alison's bottom lip and Alison's lips quickly parted, deepening the kiss. Their tongues battled for dominance, neither winning before Alison pulled away. "Is that a 'yes'?"

Emily's head bobbed up and down enthusiastically. Alison leaned in for two more quick pecks before backing away once again. During their second, short kiss, Alison felt Emily's smile falter slightly. She furrowed her brow at her girlfriend. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Emily tried to wave off the comment, but Alison wasn't going to let her get away that easily.

"Em, if you don't want to, I understand."

Emily looked deep into Alison's eye. "It's not that. I want to, more than anything. Falling asleep with you in my arms, waking up next to you. Coming home and cooking dinner together. I want that _so_ bad." She gave Alison a sad smile.

"But…?" Alison felt her throat begin to tighten and the air in the room heat up. She tried to push her nerves back down as she felt her palms grow clammy.

Emily looked away. "It's my mom." Alison looked at her quizzically, not expecting that to be Emily's response. "I feel bad about leaving her. I don't want her to feel like I've abandoned her."

Alison felt herself begin to calm almost immediately, now knowing that it was nothing to do with Alison herself that was causing the brunette to struggle with the decision. Then she looked at Emily, who clearly looked like she was having an intense inner debate with herself. She was chewing on the inside of her cheek and was boring a hole through the floor with her stare. Alison then felt a pang of guilt course through her, ashamed that she felt relief when her girlfriend was clearly struggling. She scooched closer to Emily on the floor and wrapped her arms around the brunette, holding her tightly for a few seconds before backing up and looking into conflicted eyes. "Em, this doesn't have to happen today. Or even tomorrow, or next week. This doesn't even have to happen next month." Emily gave her a sad smile. "It's yours to use when _you_ are ready. I'll be here waiting."

Emily pulled Alison back in close to her. She let out a deep breath before whispering, "I love you, Alison DiLaurentis. So much. I'm sorry."

Alison pulled back again, shaking her head. "Hey, no apologizing. You've done _nothing_ wrong." Emily began to protest before she was cut off. "Listen to me. I'm _not_ going anywhere. You have all the time you need to figure this all out. When _you're_ ready, talk to you mom, figure it out with _her_. Just know that I will be waiting for you, with open arms, when you decide."

A tear slid down Emily's cheek and Alison quickly wiped it away. Emily could feel Alison's love through every touch. It amazed her how that was even possible. From the very moment she laid eyes on the blonde all those years ago, she felt a bond, a connection. She knew that Alison was special, but she never imagined her life would turn out like _this_. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world with Alison by her side. She loved Alison with every ounce of her being, and wanted nothing more than to spend each day with the blonde, never missing a minute.

Alison's encouragement and patience when she had voiced her concerns over her mom only made her want to move in more. The fact that Alison was _willing_ to let Emily figure this out on her own and not _pressure_ her into anything she wasn't ready for made Emily's heart swell. It made her want to talk to her mom _today_ , get her feelings on the whole thing. "I'm going to talk to my mom after brunch," she said with so much conviction in her voice that Alison was honestly a little shocked.

"Em, you really don't need to rush. I'm _ok_ with whatever you decide."

Emily gave Alison a genuine smile. "I know. I _want_ to talk to her about it sooner rather than later."

Alison squinted her eyes at the brunette. "Ok, if you're sure."

Emily rubbed her nose playfully against Alison's before giving her a quick peck on the lips. "I'm sure." She hopped up off the floor and extended her hand to Alison, pulling her up. "Let's go get cooking!"

XXXXX

A few hours later, Emily was helping Pam pack up her car with all the open presents she had received. "Thank you for a wonderful day, honey. I'm glad I got to spend the day with the two of you," Pam said with a warm smile as Emily closed the trunk to her mom's car.

"Me too, Mom. Thank you for coming. And thank you for the lovely gifts. You really didn't need to get us anything. Ali can't wait to use the bath caddy you got her though." Emily leaned in and hugged her mom tightly.

Pam chuckled softly. "Yeah, she seems like the type to unwind at the end of the day in the bath with a glass of wine and a good book."

"She _definitely_ is."

The two women began heading towards the house and back inside. "So, did Alison get you anything special?" Pam asked curiously.

Emily slowed her pace to almost a standstill and Pam noticed immediately. Emily began nervously chewing on her bottom lip and looking at the front of the house, avoiding her mother's gaze. "Ummmm…"

"Emmy?"

Emily took a deep breath. "Well, there was one present that was actually pretty special."

Pam's face softened slightly. "Oh yeah? What was it?"

Emily finally met her mother's eyes full of curiosity. "It, it's a key."

Pam scrunched up her face in confusion at first. "A key? Why would…" Then the realization hit her. "Ohhhh…" She felt a tightening in her chest and throat for her baby girl who was no longer a baby. She was growing up, finally ready to start her own adult life without her mother's guidance anymore. Pam felt tears well up in her eyes.

"Mom? Are you ok?" Emily asked, all too aware of her mother's complete change in demeanor.

Pam felt completely overwhelmed. She didn't know what to think about the situation. She loved Alison and couldn't think of a better person to take care of her daughter, but everything from the day and not having Wayne around had all come crashing down on her. A single tear fell down her cheek. "I, uh, I think I'm going to get going."

"Mom?" Emily tried to interrupt, her own throat closing at her mother's reaction.

"Tell Alison thank you again for the wonderful day. I'll see you at home at some point," Pam called over her shoulder as she headed for her car and climbed in behind the driver's seat.

Emily stood there, stunned, watching her mother drive away. _What the hell just happened?_ Emily thought to herself. She had no idea how long she was standing out there, but she was snapped from her trance when the front door opened and she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Em? Is everything ok? You've been out here for a while?" Alison walked up next to Emily, gently touching her elbow as she asked hesitantly, "Em, where'd your mom go?"

At that, Emily's emotions came pouring out of her and she threw her arms around Alison's shoulders. "She left! I told her about your present and she probably hates me now, so she left!"


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Happy Tuesday everyone! First off, sorry to anyone who I disappointed with the update for Chapter 18 instead of an actual chapter. But there is a REAL chapter up their now. So I know I said that the next chapter was going to be a New Years one, but that didn't quite pan out once I started writing. Instead, you get some fluff, along with an important doctor's appointment. New Years will definitely be next chapter. I think I've also decided that I'm going to bring back the girls eventually. Let me know if you are for that or completely against it! I will also be wrapping up the Elliott story line in the next few chapters after the New Years one. Anyway, thanks again for the follows/favorites/reviews. I really do appreciate each and every one of them!**

"Baby, calm down, please. And start from the beginning." It had been 10 minutes since Alison found Emily standing on the front porch. Emily had been in absolute hysterics, fretting over her mom's reaction, but Alison still didn't understand what exactly had happened. When Emily had finally calmed down enough, she filled Alison in on their conversation.

"She just, she just completely, completely _changed_." Emily said, trying to hold back sobs and keep her breathing steady. "Like we were _fine_ , then, we, we _weren't_ and she was driving off."

Alison cupped Emily's face and brought Emily's face to meet her gaze. "Everything is going to be ok, baby. I promise you. You need to go _talk_ to her and work it out. Maybe it was just too overwhelming for her."

Emily looked away. "Maybe she doesn't want me living with you. Maybe she's not as ok with me being gay as I thought."

Alison frowned at her response. "Why would you think that?! Your mom has _never_ shown any indication that she's not ok with _any_ part of you." It was true, they had had dinner over at the brunette's apartment on several occasions at Pam's request, wanting to get to know the girl who had stolen her daughter's heart. "She's been nothing but kind and caring and loving towards me. And I didn't really know what to expect from her after you told me that you had told her about our not so nice _encounters_ in high school. But she's been amazing, Em. She loves you."

Emily sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. Alison grabbed both of them and gently held them in her lap. "Em, you just need to _talk_ to her. I'm sure it's not what you think. Go to her, work it out. If you want it to be, your _home_ will be here waiting for you."

"My home is wherever you are." Emily wrapped Alison in a hug, resting her head on Alison's shoulder, taking in the smell of her vanilla shampoo. She felt instantly calmed. "Can we just stay like this for a little while longer before I leave?"

Alison gave her a kiss on the head. "Of course we can, baby."

XXXXX

About an hour later, Emily sat on the couch in the apartment, waiting for her mother to get home. She wasn't even sure what to call the place anymore. She wanted to take Alison up on her offer and be a _real_ family, but she _needed_ her mother's blessing. She _needed_ to know that her mom was ok with it and that she would be ok on her own. She had texted Alison when she first got there, saying that her mom wasn't home and questioning what she should do next. Alison had quickly calmed her like only she could and assured her that her mother would be home shortly.

Emily's head snapped up from her phone when she heard a key in the lock and she saw Pam walk through the door. Pam's head was down, so she didn't see Emily at first.

"Mom?" Emily said, voice timid and meek.

Pam, not expecting Emily to be there, jumped and cried out as she turned to see the daughter sitting on the couch. She placed her hand over her heart, trying to steady her breathing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Emily's voice was still soft, eyes focused on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"It's alright honey, I just wasn't expecting anyone to be here when I came back," Pam waved off Emily's apology.

"Where did you go? After you left Alison's?" Emily finally lifted her gaze and Pam could see the red, puffy eyes that only meant one thing.

Pam gave Emily a sad smile as her heart filled with sadness at her daughter's eyes. "I went to your father and I's old spot. I couldn't go to his grave and see him, so that was the next best thing to feel close to him." Pam walked over to the couch and sat down next to Emily, patting her thigh as she said, "we had a nice, long chat," to which Emily couldn't help but chuckle. "And, isn't it _your_ house, now, too?"

Emily sighed, staring at the floor. "I don't know. I haven't given her an answer yet."

"Why not?"

Emily chewed on her inside cheek, wringing her hands together in nervousness. Pam saw this and grabbed Emily's hands in her own. "I _wanted_ to say yes, but I wanted to talk to you first."

Pam sighed. "And my reaction wasn't the best…" Emily continued to stare at the floor, avoiding her mother's gaze. "Emmy, I'm sorry about how I reacted. It, just, it caught me off guard."

"But _why_ though? Do you not like Alison? Do you not like that I'm going to be living with another _woman_? Do you not-" Emily began to ramble as her emotions got the better of her again.

Pam immediately cut her off. "Emmy, you think I'm not ok with you being gay?"

Emily's mouth opened and snapped shut again. "Yes. No. I don't know. Maybe?"

Pam sighed. "Emily, I _love_ you. _All_ of you. I don't care whether you love a man or a woman, as long as you are happy and in love. And I can see how happy Alison makes you and how in love you two are." Pam squeezed Emily's hands in reassurance. "I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like I didn't approve of you." Pam's voice cracked and a tear ran down her face. Her and Emily had come so far. She felt awful that her reaction to what have been one of the best gifts someone could give her daughter had made her feel like her own mother didn't approve of who she was. "Emmy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you think that I have a problem with you, or Alison. I couldn't be more proud of you. I know your father couldn't be, either."

Tears were no streaming down both women's cheeks. Pam pulled Emily into a tight hug, running her hand to smooth out Emily's hair while the other rubbed circles on her back, shushing her to calm the brunette, and herself, down. Once both women had composed themselves, Pam pulled back and placed her palms on either side of Emily's face. "Emmy, look at me, please." Emily brought her gaze up to meet her mother's. "Why did you want to talk to me before giving Alison an answer?"

"Because I didn't want you to think that I was leaving you. I feel like I'm all you have left and I didn't want you to feel alone," Emily said through a sniffle.

Pam gave her a small smile before pulling her close again. "Listen to me, I'll be ok, alright? You don't need to worry about me."

Emily let out a sigh. "You know I do though."

Pam pulled back with a quiet laugh and put one hand on each of the younger brunette's shoulders. "I'll be alright, Emmy. You have a wonderful, amazing woman who you are in a serious relationship with. You're going to have a _baby_ soon." At the thought, a smile formed across Emily's face. "You two _belong_ under the same roof."

"But won't you be lonely here all by yourself?"

Pam gave Emily a gentle smile. "Maybe. But I know your father is always with me in my heart. If I remember that, I'll never feel lonely." This time, Emily pulled Pam into a tight embrace. "I promise you, Emmy. I'm a grown woman. It may have been a while since I had to, but I do know how to take care of myself."

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, honey. Now go!" Pam gave Emily a slight hip bump. "Go finish off your Christmas with your girl and give her your answer! We'll talk soon!"

Emily smiled as she walked out of her mom's apartment and headed home. _Home_ , she thought. She _really_ liked the sound of that. Her heart felt a million times lighter than on the drive over. She couldn't wait to get _home_ to her blonde. The only woman who would ever truly have her heart. Her Alison.

XXXXX

As Emily headed inside, she found smiled as she saw Alison asleep under a blanket on the couch. Emily slowly made her way over to Alison and crouched down next to her head. She truly did look like an angel when she slept. Her face was always so peaceful and serene. She gently pushed a strand of Alison's back and placed a kiss on her temple. At the feeling the blonde began to stir and Emily couldn't help but think how adorable she was, even when she was waking up.

"Mmmmm, hi," Alison said as she raised her arms over her head and stretched out on the couch.

Emily smiled. "Hi," she returned as she gently lifted Alison's upper body up and slid behind her, pulling the blonde between her legs and leaning them back against the arm rest. Alison snuggled back into her girlfriend's body as Emily began running her fingers through golden tresses.

"How did it go?" Alison hummed at the feeling of Emily's hand gently massaging her scalp.

"It went really well. She apologized for how she reacted, and then told me that she would be ok. That she still felt close to my dad and that he was always with herm so she would be ok." Emily had a sad smile on her face.

Alison squeezed the arms around her midsection as she leaned her head back and looked up at Emily. "I'm glad that you two worked it out. I know how close you guys are."

"Me too, baby. Thank you for encouraging me to go talk to her. I don't know what I would do without you."

"I just hated seeing you like that. I just want you to be happy. I don't even care if it means you _never_ move in with me. As long as you are _happy,_ that's _all_ that matters to me.

Emily gave her a sad smile and pulled her in tighter. "I _am_ happy. Right here. On this couch. In this moment. With you in my arms. _You_ are my happiness, Ali. Wherever _you_ are, that's where I want to be. _This_ is home." Emily finished with a kiss to the top of Alison's head.

Alison looked up at Emily with unshed tears in her eyes and excitement in her voice. "You mean? Em, tell me what you mean!" Her dimples had fully popped and Emily thought of how much she _loved_ those dimples.

"Yes, Alison! A thousand times yes!"

Alison turned in Emily's lap and crashed their lips together. She had never been so happy in her life. Her hand immediately cupped Emily's face, holding the brunette close. Once she needed air, she pulled away, breathless, and rested her forehead against Emily's so their noses touched. Slowly, she opened her eyes and studied her girlfriend's face, eyes dancing with love and excitement and lips curved into a smile so big her cheeks were sure to be sore later. Her heart melted at the thought of them _truly_ becoming a family. "We're really doing this? You're _sure_ this is what you want?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life." Emily slowly leaned in and captured Alison's lips. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too. Thank you so much for today." Alison recaptured Emily's lips before her smile could fully form and slowly pushed Emily onto her back on the couch, her legs straddling either side of Emily's hips.

XXXXX

The next morning, Alison awoke to the feeling of Emily's fingers drawing hearts on the bare skin of her growing baby bump. Alison smiled as she nestled herself back, pressing her back impossibly closer into Emily's front. Without breaking her drawings, Emily slid her other arm underneath Alison and brought it around her chest, holding her close as she nuzzled into her neck. Alison closed her eyes and smiled as her girlfriend began to sing softly against her skin. "Good morning beautiful, how was your night? Mine was wonderful, with you by my side. And when I open my eyes and see your sweet face." Alison turned over in her arms to see Emily giving her one of the most adorable smiles she had ever seen, her cheeks with a slight pinkish hue to them. "It's a good morning beautiful day," Emily finished the lyrics against Alison's lips.

Alison slid her tongue against Emily's bottom lip and soon their tongues were dancing together while their bodies tangled in the morning sun that spilt through the curtains, warming the bed. As they basked in the afterglow of their morning activities a little while later, Alison was snuggled up against her girlfriend, her head on Emily's chest. Alison had her leg thrown over Emily's lower half and her arm around the brunette's waist, while Emily ran one hand through Alison's hair and the other rested on its favorite spot.

"You know, I always love waking up with you, naked in my bed. But something about _this_ morning, it just, I don't know, it feels _different_." Alison's voice was soft, not sure if what she said even made any sense.

Emily let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Alison raised her eyebrows and looked up at Emily. "You do?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah. It's like, this was always _your_ home. Yeah, I was your girlfriend, but I still had another home to go back to. Another place to sleep at night. But now, for the first time, I woke up in a home that we _share_ , together. I'll never have to spend another night away from you because I have somewhere else to be. _This_ is where I belong and _this_ is how every morning should be." She gave Alison a smile before leaning down and giving her a gentle kiss.

Alison teased her girlfriend. "Be careful Casanova, the mind blowing sex to put me to sleep AND wake me up? And then the serenading? You're setting the bar pretty high for yourself there!" Alison laughed as Emily rolled her eyes.

"It's a good thing then that you have all the time in the world to find out how charming I can truly be then, huh?" Emily laughed.

Alison smiled as she snuggled back down into Emily. "So, what's on your agenda for today?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was thinking about maybe heading to my mom's, maybe start packing up some things. I mean, I know we have all week off from work, but Jason and Aria are coming to visit in a few days and then we have your four-month check up tomorrow. So I don't want to wait and then be rushing by the end of the week."

"I would love if you were truly moved in by New Year's, so we could start the year off right, a true new beginning for us."

"Me too, baby. Me too." A comfortable silence fell between the two women before Emily broke the silence. "Hey, uh, I was wondering, how do you feel about finding out the gender?"

"Of the baby? I don't know. I mean, I've thought about it, but I haven't come up with a final decision."

"Why not? I mean, I'm just curious."

"Well, do you know if you want to find out?"

Emily smiled at the blonde's words. It still made her heart flutter when Alison would make any reference whatsoever to Emily having a say in any decision when it came to the baby. She knew that she was completely involved and wanted to be seen as the second parent to the baby and she knew that was never going to change, no matter how things ended up between her and Alison down the line. Deep down, she knew that Alison was all in with her and reciprocated her feelings in terms of the role Emily was going to play in the baby's life, but it was nice to have the affirmations at times. "I do know my answer, but I asked you first. I don't want you to change your answer just because it's what I want."

Alison furrowed her brow in thought. On one hand, she wanted to find out because it would make buying things for the baby easier and they would be able to pick a theme. Plus, they would be able to stop always saying 'the baby' and would be able to use the appropriate pronoun. Names may also be easier too. But on the other hand, Alison kind of liked the idea of the mystery and being surprised when the time came. The idea was like a tennis volley, constantly going one way and then the other.

"I honestly don't know. I'm very back and forth in my head. But I _would_ like to be able to stop saying 'the baby' all the time and it would be nice to design the nursery in something other than gender neutral stuff. There are so many other cute designs if you do a girl- or boy-specific theme."

Emily nudged her carefully. "So…."

"So, I guess what I'm saying is that I want to find out if it's a boy or a girl."

Emily shot up, propped on her elbow and turned into Alison. "Really?"

Alison laughed at the brunette's excitement, and thought about how that was what she must have looked like when Emily told her she would be moving in last night. "Yeah, let's find out. I take it that was what you wanted?"

"Yeah, I really did want to find out. I mean, I'll be happy either way, but my mom has some of my old baby stuff that she's been keeping. I don't think she ever thought I would make her a grandmother, but she did mention a couple of times since I've met you that she would like us to have it, if we wanted it."

Alison smiled. "Maybe we can see what's over there when we go to pick up some of your stuff."

XXXXX

The next day, Emily and Alison sat in the waiting area of the OBGYN office. Emily was so excited, she couldn't stop the bouncing in the leg. Eventually, Alison had had enough and her hand shot to Emily's thigh and squeezed not so gently directly above her knee.

Emily gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry, I'm just so excited to find out."

"Yeah, well it's making me nervous, so could you please stop." Alison's tone was a little harsher than she intended, but Emily had grown accustomed to Alison's mood swings and tried not to take them personally. Alison sighed, feeling bad for snapping at her girlfriend and removed her hand from Emily's knee while mumbling, "sorry."

Immediately, Emily captured Alison's hand in her own and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Everything is going to be ok, I promise." Emily leaned in and placed a gentle kiss below Alison's ear, Alison leaning into it. Before she could respond, the door opened and they were being called into the back by the ultrasound technician. Emily thought that she recognized the woman, but she was looking through what she assumed to be Alison's chart and she couldn't get a good look at her face, so she just shrugged and kept walking. They were lead into a darkened room with a giant screen on one wall across from an exam table.

The technician, still looking down, told Alison to hop up onto the exam table and pull her shirt up over her stomach. Once Alison climbed on the table and the technician had shut the door, she turned to them and introduced herself. As soon as Emily saw her face, she knew exactly who it was.

"Hi, I'm-"

"Melissa?" Emily said in disbelief.

The technician looked at her, shocked.

"Melissa Hastings?"

"How do you know me? Have we met?"

Emily shifted her weight uncomfortably from side to side. "Umm, yeah, when we were younger. I was one of Spencer's best friends in middle school."

Realization dawned on Melissa's face. "Oh my God, Emily? Look at you! You're all grown up!" Melissa said, shaking her head. "And you're here with Alison DiLaurentis?" The smile on her face quickly fell as she asked her question.

Emily looked at Alison, who was shooting daggers with her eyes at Melissa, offended by the technician's tone. Quickly, Emily grabbed Alison's hand in a show of solidarity. "Yeah, we've been dating for a while now and we're starting a family." Emily gave Alison a smile and squeezed her hand. Alison smiled back and nodded, mouthing an 'I love you' to Emily.

"Right, sorry, I didn't mean it like that. It's just. It's been so long. I thought when you moved to Texas we'd never see you back her in Rosewood. I didn't mean any offense." Melissa looked at Alison apologetically.

Emily squeezed Alison's hand and Alison's gaze shot up from the technician to her girlfriend. Emily looked at her and then looked at Melissa. Alison rolled her eyes at her girlfriend, but then put a smile on her face as she turned to Melissa. "Yes, we've all grown up and changed. We're different people now. Apology accepted." Emily could see the hint of the old Alison coming out, so she decided to steer the topic back onto herself.

She cleared her throat. "Well, mom and I moved back here last year, and I just started as the Phys Ed and swim coach at Rosewood High this past fall. Alison and I reconnected, and honestly, I couldn't be any happier right now." She looked down at Alison and Alison's faced immediately softened, a light smile gracing her face.

"Right, well, congrats you two! I'm glad you are happy! Let's take a look at that baby, shall we?"

Alison laid back as Melissa took some gel and squirted it on her belly. She moved the ultrasound head around to spread the gel before turning on the machine and projecting the image to the screen across from them. Alison immediately squeezed Emily's hand harder and pulled the brunette to come closer to her. Emily bent down slightly, bringing her head near Alison's, her eye never leaving the screen. "That's _our_ baby," Alison cooed into Emily's ear. Emily's smile grew ear-to-ear as she whispered an 'I love you' to Alison.

After Melissa was done taking her measurements, she turned to the couple who were still staring wide-eyed at the screen. "So, would you two like to know what you're having?" Emily looked down at Alison expectantly, before Alison answered with nothing more than a head nod in the affirmative. Melissa just laughed before adjusting the ultrasound head again and noting on the screen, "see that, right there?"

Both women answered in unison, "yes."

"Well, congratulations, you two are having a girl!"

Emily squealed in delight, but noticed an almost forced smile on Alison's face. Emily furrowed her brow at her girlfriend, but Alison quickly turned away as Melissa began to wipe the gel off of Alison.

"Well, everything looks good. The baby is growing perfectly and all the measurements are good. If you guys want to head across the hall to exam room 2, the doctor will be in with you shortly."

"Thank you," Alison nodded stiffly to Melissa as she made her way across the hall.

Emily hung back a second, asking Melissa, "how's Spencer? I haven't talked to her in forever."

Melissa smiled. "She's good. She's actually in D.C. working as a lobbyist right now. But she's going to be coming home soon once our mom starts her Senatorial campaign in a couple of months to help her with that."

"That's awesome. I always knew she would either get into politics or become a lawyer. It was always easier to win an argument with a brick wall that it was against her!" The two women laughed. "Well, I don't want to leave Ali waiting. It was nice to see you, Melissa. Please tell Spencer and your family I said hi when you talk to them."

Melissa smiled. "I will." As Emily went to turn and leave, she heard Melissa call her name. "Emily, wait! Forgot to give you these."

Melissa handed Emily tiny black and white printouts of their baby and her perfect little hands and feet. Emily was in love with her already. _Her_ , she smiled to herself. "Thank you, again, Melissa."

"Anytime, I guess I'll see you around!"

Emily nodded as she entered the exam room and saw Alison laying back against the table, jaw clenched and unshed tears in her eyes. Emily quickly walked over to her and tried to take her hand, but Alison pulled it away and rolled away from Emily, her back facing the brunette. "Baby?" Emily tentatively reached out to touch Alison's shoulder and when she didn't brush her off, she continued. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"What were you two talking about?" Alison refused to look at Emily. "Talking about how much of a bitch I used to be?"

"What? No! Why would you even think that?" Emily had no idea where this was coming from.

"I saw the way she looked at me! How _shocked_ she was to see us together! She knows what a bitch I used to be and she wanted to make me feel bad!" Fat, hot tears began to stream down her cheeks.

Emily rounded the table so that she could lean down and be eye level with the blonde. She gently placed her hand on Alison's cheek, rubbing softly with her thumb. Alison closed her eyes at the contact and Emily gave her a sad smile. "Ali, where is this coming from?"

Alison took in a deep breath and then blew it out. Without opening her eyes, she spoke what was really on her mind. "It's a _girl_ , Em." Emily wasn't sure where the blonde was going with this, so she kept her mouth shut and quietly encouraged her girlfriend to continue. "What if she ends up like me? What if she _tortures_ people, just for the fun of it? I don't want her to turn out like me." Her voice cracked at the end and tears continued to stream down her cheeks.

Emily's heart broke at the sight of her. Alison had been doing so good in recent months. She hadn't had a breakdown about her past since they first started dating. She had hoped that she was finally able to get her girlfriend to see past her past, but it was clear now that those insecurities ran deep. "Look at me, please, baby?" Dull, watery blue eyes met heartbroken brown ones. "Ali, I hope our daughter turns out to be _exactly_ like you." Alison rolled her eyes, but Emily continued on. "I'm serious. The woman in front of me right now is kind." Emily placed a gentle kiss to her cheek. "And loving." A kiss to the other cheek. "And beautiful." A kiss to the forehead. "And smart." Emily could see a smirk form on the blonde's lips as she placed a kiss to the tip of her nose. "And funny." Emily placed a kiss against curled lips. She pulled back and could see the brightness begin to return to her eyes. "Ali, our daughter is going to be an amazing little girl, because she is going to grow up in a house with love, and discipline and where she will always feel safe and protected."

Alison gave Emily a full smile. "I love you so much. How did I get so lucky to have you through all of this?" Emily didn't respond and instead placed a gentle kiss to the blonde's lips. "Seriously, Em, thank you so much. For everything."

"Please don't worry about anything. We got this." Emily smiled as they heard a knock on the door and the doctor came in.

Alison held Emily's hand like the girl was going to drift away if she let go. She felt like Emily was her lifeline. She knew that no matter what, their daughter would be ok, because she would have the most amazing woman on earth as her mother. She knew that as long as she had Emily, nothing was impossible. She let that thought of her brunette girlfriend wash away her fears and insecurities and focus on the rest of her appointment.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Hey guys! I was hoping to get this out last week, but we got hit with a nice little winter storm at the end of last week, so after writing for a few hours, I needed to go out and shovel. We went from 55 degrees at 11 am to 17 degrees and 8 inches of snow in about 12 hours... fun times here in the northeast US! And then this morning, we woke up at 6:30 to no water because the water main broke at the house next door. Thankfully we found a place to crash and I was able to get some editing done. I know that I said this chapter was going to be NYE, but it really did get away from me and before I knew it, I had 5 k words written and I wasn't even to new years. BUT, I do have the next chapter written and edited, so you get a double update today! I want to give a shout out to Francesca79 for one of her comments that gave the idea for these upcoming chats between the girls and Aria. As always, thanks to everyone who has favorited/followed/reviewed this story so far! I'm glad you are enjoying it!**

Alison and Emily had spent the majority of the next couple days packing boxes and then moving them into Alison's house. Well, Emily had done most of the moving, Alison mainly helped pack and unpack. She tried to help carry boxes, but Emily insisted she not lift a single one, even if it was only filled with bedding. "You shouldn't be doing anything strenuous, Ali," Emily had told her. She had wanted to respond with a snooty reply that she wasn't an invalid and carrying bedding was hardly strenuous, but she bit her tongue and just rolled her eyes at the protective nature of her girlfriend. She knew Emily was only coming from a place of love and concern, for both herself _and_ their daughter.

 _Wow, their daughter_. Alison smiled at the thought. Since her little meltdown at the doctor's office, Emily had been doing everything in her power to make Alison feel better about having a little girl. She reminded Alison every day about what an amazing person she was and how she was going to be a great mother. Alison didn't think it was possible, but she fell in love with Emily more with every passing minute. She was such a kind hearted, loving person. She never wanted Alison to feel any pain or doubt, and Alison was so grateful that Emily was by her side every step of the way. She wished that she could tell her or show her just how much she meant to the blonde, but she didn't think there _were_ any words or actions that were appropriate for what her heart felt. Everything else seemed pale in comparison to what was in her heart. But since that appointment, she made a promise to herself, and secretly, to Emily, that she would work every day to try and show her girlfriend how much she was loved and appreciated.

So, she would let Emily have this overprotective attitude at the moment, knowing that it made her happy to see Alison actually listening to her for once. Once the last of the boxes were in Alison's SUV, Alison headed down to the car while Emily hung back and said goodbye to her mother. They embraced for a few minutes, neither one wanting to let the other go. When they finally did pull apart, Emily smiled and wiped the tears off her face.

"I should go. Jason and Aria are coming over for dinner." She said with a nervous smile on her face.

Pam gave her a reassuring smile. "I hope you have a nice night. It will be nice for you to catch up with Aria."

"Yeah, it will. We didn't get to talk much on Thanksgiving. It was kind of weird having her around." Emily had wanted to sit down and have an actual conversation with Aria, but it was too hectic that day. Kenneth had ended up coming after dinner, too, so between Alison catching up with Jason and her father and Emily playing hostess to Pam, she hadn't really had much of a chance to talk to the small brunette. She had looked exactly the same, though, just more grown up. Her style had matured, but definitely still screamed Aria. Emily was looking forward to the couple coming over for dinner tonight. She was hoping to be able to have a one-on-one conversation without anyone or anything to distract them. They had a lot to catch up on, after all.

"I know it was hard for you all those years ago. What you went through with them. High school changes you. Everyone starts to discover who they are and start to make new friends. Just because they were distant with you, doesn't mean they didn't care." Pam ran her hand up and down Emily's upper arms, comfortingly.

Emily smiled awkwardly. Even with how everything panned out, she still felt weird talking to her mom about that time in her life. "I know. I've never blamed them once for what I went through. Honestly, for a while, I blamed Alison for it all. It wasn't until we reconnected that I finally realized I had to let it go." Emily gave a sad smile. "Now, though, I wish we had kept in touch more."

Pam frowned at her daughter as she could see her expression change from sadness, to a slight flash of anger, and then quickly to regret. She knew her daughter, and looking back at everything once Emily had told her what she was really going through, she knew that she had been hurting from her friend's actions far more than what she ever let on. A part of her believed that was why Emily had distanced herself from them and didn't keep in touch the way they should have in her eyes. "Just, remember what you guys used to have. The four of you were so close, it would be nice to see you all come together again."

"I don't know if that will happen, but it would be nice." The pain from feeling abandoned by them was beginning to boil up to the surface, but Emily quelled it back down, hidden in the depths of her soul where she had kept it for so long. She never really understood why they had parted ways so quickly. She didn't want to think that maybe they didn't want to be associated with her because of the rumors. But, she didn't want to remember her friends that way. She wanted to remember the good times that they shared, so she kept that pain hidden so deep, even she forgot about it sometimes. She really did hope that they could get back to a good place one day, she just wasn't exactly sure if that would happen. She felt that this upcoming conversation with Aria would be a telling sign if they would be able to get back to that place or not.

"Tell Aria and Jason I said hi." Pam pulled Emily in for one more quick hug.

"I will, mom. Love you."

"I love you too, Emmy. Call me sometimes, please?" Pam called as Emily made her way to the door.

Emily smiled a cheeky smile towards her mom. "Mom, I'm moving 5 minutes away. It's not like I'm going back to California."

"I know. I'll just miss you," Pam said with a sad smile.

"I'll miss you too, mom. Bye."

"Bye sweetie," Pam said as the door shut behind her only daughter. A single tear fell down her cheek as she headed deeper into the apartment to get herself ready for work.

As Emily slid into the passenger seat of Alison's car, she immediately felt a warm, soft hand finding her own over the center console. She let out the breath that she didn't even realize she was holding as she felt Alison's presence overtake and calm her. She was amazed that the woman sitting next to her was able to center her with just a single touch. How one look could make the world fall away and only leave the two of them.

Alison gave her hand a squeeze as Emily rested her head against the seat. "You ok?" Alison's voice was soft, soothing to Emily, which made her smile weakly.

Emily blew out. "Yeah, it's just weird. Not living with her anymore, you know?"

"I know, baby. We'll invite her over every week for dinner, and you guys can have lunch dates on the weekends. And whenever you need to see her, you can go see her. I mean, you still have your bed there, so if you ever just need to be there with her, it's ok. I understand and I'm not going to be mad or upset. I mean, I'll miss you, but just know that I get it, ok?"

Emily looked at her girlfriend in amazement, tears welling up in her eyes. She blinked a few times, willing them to not fall. "God, how did I get so lucky to have you in my life?"

Alison laugher lightly. "I'm the lucky one, Em."

"I love you so much." Without wasting a second to allow Alison to answer, Emily reached over the seat and grabbed the blonde behind the neck, pulling her in close and crashing their lips together. A moan bubbled up in Alison's throat before she could stop it, being just as quickly swallowed by Emily. Hands began to wander as Emily deepened the kiss. Once the need for oxygen was too much, Alison pulled away, breathless and chest heaving. Emily looked around and noticed the tiniest bit of steam collecting on the windshield and her cheeks immediately felt like they were on fire.

Alison noticed the change in color and threw her girlfriend a smirk. "I love you, too. But we need to get home and start cooking dinner, or else Jason and Aria are going to get something way more than they bargained for when they show up." A laugh fell from both their lips as Emily intertwined her hand with Alison's free one on the console once more as they headed home to start dinner and wait for Jason and Aria.

XXXXX

A few hours later, Alison was in the kitchen cooking when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" She heard Emily cry from down the hall where she was doing some quick tidying of the first floor. Alison saw a flash of brunette hair as Emily flew past the kitchen and opened the front door. She greeted Jason and Aria with a genuine smile and hugs for both, before escorting them both into the kitchen to greet Alison.

"It smells amazing in here, sis!" Jason said as he headed around the island and gave Alison a long hug. "What'cha cookin'," he said as he started lifting the lids off all the pots, trying to snoop out what was for dinner.

Alison swatted his hand away like she was scolding a five year old for touching something her wasn't supposed to and Emily and Aria just laughed at the scene in front of them. "Stuffed portabella mushroom caps with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes." She looked over at Aria. "Everything is vegetarian," she said, throwing the smaller brunette a wink.

Aria blushed slightly as she remembered her announcement on Thanksgiving, feeling bad that almost all of the sides had some sort of meat in them. In the end, she had filled up mostly on mashed potatoes, corn and apple pie. "Thank you, Alison. Here, we brought you some wine." She held up a bottle of merlot. "I researched and read that a glass of red wine every once in a while won't hurt the baby. In fact, some studies say the tannins may actually be beneficial." Aria paused for a minute, before holding up another package. "We also brought crumb cake," she chuckled.

Alison raised an eyebrow, surprised that Aria had done research on her pregnancy. Alison was shocked. She knew that Aria didn't like her in high school. Hell, Alison gave her quite a few reasons to not like her, especially when those rumors started flying about her and their new English teacher, Mr. Fitz at the beginning of junior year. It seemed though that Aria had moved on, or at least liked Jason enough to make an effort. Either way, it made Alison smile. She walked over to Aria before embracing her tightly. "Thank you, Aria." After a moment, Aria reciprocated and gave a nod to acknowledge Alison's gratitude.

Alison pulled away from Aria. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, how about I take your coats and Emily, would you mind setting the table, please?"

"Sure thing, baby." Emily walked over and placed a peck to Alison's cheek.

Aria smiled at the affection and offered up her help to Emily, which Emily gratefully accepted. Jason offered to open the wine, poured out four glasses, one with significantly less liquid for Alison and brought them to the table. Alison returned from the coat closet and began dishing up dinner. They all sat around and made small talk, Aria and Jason complimenting Alison's cooking and thanking her time and time again. Emily held Alison's hand under the table, enjoying the company of having family and friends over, occasionally looking over and sharing smiles with the blonde. After dinner, Jason stood up and began clearing the table. Emily and Alison jumped up to help, but Jason cleared his throat.

"Guys, I got this. Aria, wasn't there something you wanted to talk to Emily about?" Jason threw her a look and Emily could see Aria swallow hard.

"Yeah, uh, Em? Do you mind if we could talk somewhere? Just, uh, just the two of us?" Emily could tell that the small brunette was nervous.

Emily looked over to Alison with pleading eyes. Alison grabbed her hand and squeezed, before nodding and saying, "go, Em, I'll help Jason clean up and then we can have our own little chat session." Emily mouthed _I love you_ , before turning to Aria. "Yeah, let's head back into the office."

Aria followed Emily down the hall and into the office. She motioned for Aria to have a seat on the leather couch before Emily took her place on the other end.

"Em-"

"Ari-"

They both spoke at the same time, gently laughing once they realized the other was speaking. It was quiet after a moment and Aria was the first to speak. "Please, just let me say this. It's been eating me alive since Thanksgiving." Emily really didn't know what the smaller brunette was talking about, but she nodded and allowed her to continue. "I just wanted to say, I just. Look, I'm sorry, ok?"

Emily furrowed her brow. That wasn't quite what she was expecting to fall out of Aria's mouth. "Sorry for what?"

Aria was obviously nervous, pulling on her fingers and constantly shifting her gaze around the room. Basically, she was trying her absolute hardest to avoid looking at Emily. "I'm sorry for everything. I should have been there for you when you were going through everything."

"Aria, its fine. I don't blame you guys. It was something that just happened. We grew apart." Emily didn't realize that any of them had even felt guilty about everything. She felt bad, especially if Aria, had been harboring this guilt for all these years.

"But you were still hurting and we didn't do anything." Aria still felt horrible about it all. For some reason, they all kind of went their separate ways that first day of school. They had all talked about the clubs they wanted to join, and none of them wasted any time.

"Aria, to be honest, I hid a lot from you guys. About how I was feeling, what I was really going through." Emily took a breath. She grabbed Aria's hand and squeezed it gently, causing Aria to finally meet her gaze. "Look, there really is no one to blame, it just happened. Don't feel bad. I mean, it's all worked out in the end, right? I couldn't be more happy with where I have ended up in life. Who knows if I would even be here right now if things were different." She really did mean what she said, but that pain was beginning to bubble its way toward the surface. Emily tried to push it back down, but it kept simmering.

"You and Alison, huh? How did _that_ even come about?"

"Well, when I started at RHS, she introduced herself to me. I don't think she remembered me at first, but once I told her who I was, it immediately clicked with her. She felt awful for how she treated me. She was really hard on herself for a while about it. But we started off as friends and things just kind of went from there." Emily couldn't help but smile talking about Alison.

Aria saw how much Emily's face lit up with she talked about Alison. Her eyes got brighter and she couldn't say Alison's name without smiling. "You really love her, don't you?"

"Honestly, Aria, I've loved her since that first day of ninth grade," Emily said with a blush.

Aria looked shocked. "Wait, really? So the rumors were true? About what you said to Alison?" She had seen the video of her and Paige and honestly, she really didn't care. The fact that she was gay didn't change who Emily was in her eyes. But she didn't know that what she had said that first day was true. After the first couple of days, anytime anyone mentioned that day to Emily, Aria could see the hurt in her eyes, so she never questioned it. Eventually, Emily started distancing herself and making herself more scarce. It had all spiraled out of control after that.

"Yeah, I guess. I just didn't even know myself at the time. I mean, I knew that I had these feelings of more than friends towards a couple of girls, but I didn't really know what it meant." Emily's cheeks began to heat up with flush.

"Did you ever have any of those feelings towards any of us?" Aria asked teasingly.

"What? No!" Aria couldn't help but laugh at Emily's response. Once her laughter subsided, Emily continued. "Honestly, it never really hit me until Alison. At least, that's when I first noticed it."

After that, they were quiet for a few minutes. Aria began to pull on her fingers again while she chewed on her lip nervously. Emily noticed the change and tried to avoid eye contact, afraid of what was about to come next. And the question made her cringe. "Can I ask you a more personal question?"

Emily hesitated for a moment. "Sure?"

Aria took a breath and blew it out. "What's the situation with the baby's father?"

Emily clenched her jaw at the mention of Elliot. She didn't hate many people, but Elliott was definitely one of them. What he had done to Alison and all the pain he had caused her made Emily want to do terrible things to him. Things that would most likely land her in jail, where she would be separated from Alison, so she knew that wasn't an option, as much as she wanted it to be. "What do you mean?" There was a definite edge to her voice when she finally responded.

Aria threw up her hands. "Come on, Em. Clearly she was pregnant before you started dating!"

The look of exasperation on her face rubbed Emily the wrong way. That pain was beginning to bubble up farther. "So? What are you getting at, Aria?" She clenched her jaw again, trying to keep her emotions in check.

Aria could see the anger rising in Emily. She had never known the brunette to be angry. She was always the sweet one of the group. The one you could've just met minutes before but something about her made you want to spill your darkest secrets to her. She silently wondered if _she herself_ had anything to do with the change, or if it was just a part of life and growing up. She tried to defuse the situation. "I just, where is the guy now? Is he going to be coming back, trying to claim what's his?"

"He doesn't matter!" Emily's cheeks were flushed with anger, the pain about ready to burst from the surface.

There was a challenging look in Emily's eyes that made Aria uneasy. A look that made her want to fight back. "Yes, he does! It's his kid!" Aria shouted. She looked shocked at the turn this conversation had taken. Emily looked so angry, but she could also see pain behind her eyes. She didn't like seeing Emily like this. "Look, I just don't want to see you get hurt. I can tell you really care for Alison, are you sure that she feels the same way?"

And there it was. Everything came rushing to the surface. _How dare she question a relationship she knows nothing about!_ "I can't believe you right now! You're questioning my relationship, when you guys were the ones who dropped me the second we walked through those doors of RHS?" Emily gritted her teeth, Aria visibly shrinking back into the couch. Emily could see her eyes rim with tears. Aria had her legs pulled into her chest. Emily thought that she looked terrified. I _made her feel that way?_ Emily closed her eyes and took several steadying breaths. It only helped slightly. "Look, what Ali and I have is _real_. She's changed! I wish people would start to see that! She feels awful about how she treated people back then! She's not the same person. There were reasons she was the way that she was and if you took five minutes to sit with her, maybe you would see that!"

"I _want_ to see that." Aria's voice was meek.

"Then what happened that you can't get past?" Emily was pleading with Aria to tell her what happened.

"She just, she just took things too far." Aria was staring past Emily, focused on the wall behind the taller brunette.

"What do you mean?" Emily's anger had subsided and she now felt for her friend. She knew what it was like to be a victim of Alison DiLaurentis.

Aria opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before finally working up the nerve to speak. "So, at the end of sophomore year, my mom found out that my dad had an affair. He packed us all up and took a sabbatical and we all headed to Iceland for the summer. It was beautiful there. When we came home about a week before school started, I started going to this pub and one day I met this guy there. We bonded over English. He said he had just gotten his degree, I told him I wanted to go to Hollis for Lit. He never asked how old I was and I never told him. One thing led to another and we ended up making out in the bathroom."

"You little vixen!" Emily couldn't help but tease Aria for the very un-Aria thing that she did.

"Shut up." Aria playfully said while sticking her tongue out at Emily. She was relieved to see that the tension had dissipated between them. "Well, anyway, fast forward to the first day of school and Ezra is our new English teacher… I broke it off immediately. Told him nothing could ever happen again. But it didn't take long for the rumors to start flying."

"How did people know, though?" Emily questioned.

Aria looked at Emily shyly. "I don't know for sure, but Alison came knocking on his classroom door when I was in the middle of breaking it off with him. I honestly don't know how long she was standing there for, but the rumors were circulating by the time school started the next day. I guess I just always assumed it was her."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. Were the other girls there for you, at least?" Emily reached out and took Aria's hand. Until her anger rose up inside of her, she didn't realize she was holding on to residual anger towards her friends. For them not being there. For them not sticking together. She realized her anger was towards herself, as well, for allowing it to happen.

"Yeah, we stayed friends throughout high school. We weren't as close as we were in middle school, but we still had lunch together at least once a week and movie nights in Spence's barn one Saturday a month."

"I'm sorry I missed all of that."

Aria squeezed Emily's hand. "Yeah, us too. Once you left, we couldn't believe that you were gone and weren't coming back. We realized how easily we could lose each other, so we made a pact to stay friends, always. And we've kept it, for the most part. I'm sorry again for everything. We really didn't mean to hurt you."

Emily took a deep breath and released it. "I know. I'm sorry for blowing up at you." She didn't realize that those words needed to be said, but she felt better once they were out in the open. Maybe her mother had been onto something. Maybe she didn't see them as completely blameless. But spending time with Aria these past couple visits had made her realized how much she really did miss them. She considered contacting Spencer once she got back into town. "You should really give Ali a chance to explain herself though, especially if you are serious about Jason."

"I am. I like him, a lot. He's sweet and funny and just a really nice guy. He makes me feel safe and protected." Aria's cheeks flushed as she talked about her boyfriend.

"Him and Alison have gotten close again over the past year or so, more so since everything with Elliott blew up in her face. Please, she's changed. Just, give her another chance?" Again, Emily's eyes were pleading for Aria to give Alison a chance, like she had.

"Ok, I will. I love you, Em. I'm glad that life brought us back together." The two women wrapped each other in their arms for a hug that was 12 years in the making. It brought a smile to both their faces.

"Me too, Ar."

Emily and Aria made their way back into the living room, where Alison was snuggled on the couch, struggling to keep her eyes open. Emily glanced at the clock and noticed it was already 8:30. These days, Alison rarely had energy after 7 pm, and after their moving and hosting dinner, she was shocked Alison hadn't completely ditched them and went to bed.

When Jason saw them enter the room, he got up from his chair and walked towards Aria. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, everything's great." She looked at Emily and gave her a smile, which was quickly returned.

"Great! You ready to head out? I think Alison's on her way out for the night." He nodded his head in Alison's direction.

"Hey! I heard that!" Everyone looked over to Alison, who was still snuggled up on the couch with her eyes closed. After another second or so, she slowly opened her eyes, stretched, and walked over to the group to say goodbye.

"Thank you for having us," Aria said as she gave Emily a hug.

"Yeah, it was great seeing you," Jason said as he wrapped his arms around Emily.

"It was our pleasure." Emily waved them goodbye before cleaning up Jason and Alison's glasses from the living room and putting them in the dishwasher.

Jason wrapped his little sister in a hug. "Thank you again, for everything."

"Anytime, Jason. Love you!"

"Love you, too," Jason said as he headed down the front steps.

"Can I talk to you, real quick?" She said as she placed a hand gently on Aria's forearm.

"Um, yeah, sure." Aria looked to Jason before he nodded and walked to the sidewalk, giving his girlfriend and sister some privacy.

"Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for anything that I did when we were younger that hurt you. I'm not that same person anymore, and I would love it if we could start over?"

For the first time since high school, Aria really studied Alison's face. Her features had definitely softened with age. She didn't have quite the 'bitchiness' look as she did in high school. She could definitely see that her eyes were warmer, and they seemed to hold nothing but honesty at that moment. "Where is this coming from?"

"While you and Em were talking, Jason and I had a nice long conversation. From what I gathered, you never told him about what I had done to you specifically back then?" She wondered why Aria hadn't taken the first opportunity to tell Jason about what as awful sister he had.

Aria just shrugged. "No, I didn't think it was right."

Alison gave Aria a small smile, one that was so genuine that Aria wasn't quite sure how to take it. "Thank you, I appreciate that. But I can tell that he _really_ likes you and that he cares about you a lot. All I want is to see him happy. And if you do that, then I want us all to be able to get along."

"Yeah, I would like that, too." Aria smiled back.

"So, clean slate?" Alison stuck out her right hand, expecting to Aria to take it in a handshake.

Aria rolled her eyes at Alison's outstretched hand and brought her in for a hug. "Yeah, clean slate." Once Alison was over her shock and finally reciprocated the hug, she pulled back, both hands resting on Alison's shoulders. Her face suddenly became serious. "But I don't want to see Emily get hurt again. I want to believe that you never would. I've seen you guys together and you seem so in love."

"We are." Alison smiled as her cheeks got a shade darker.

"I just hope the baby's father doesn't try to ruin it for you guys."

"He already tried and almost succeeded, I'm _not_ letting him do that again." Alison remembered that night all too well. She had almost lost everything before it even began. She hated Elliott for the things he said to Emily. She still hated herself for not standing up to Elliott. There was no way in _hell_ that he was going to get in between them again.

Aria nodded her head stiffly. "Good. Thank you again, Alison. Maybe next time you and Emily could come meet us in the city?"

Alison smiled. "I would like that. Night, Aria."

"Goodnight." Aria gave her a wave as she headed down the steps and met Jason on the sidewalk, giving him a quick peck on the lips before they linked arms and headed off towards the train station.

With that, Alison closed the door and turned to find her girlfriend. Emily was in the living room, folding the blanket that Alison was using to cover herself up with earlier. Alison walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her from behind. Emily smiled and turned in her arms, studying the blonde's face.

"You ok?" Emily took a strand of Alison's hair and pushed it behind her ear.

"Yeah, I think so. I'm exhausted right now though." Alison knew she had overdone it today. She was beginning to feel better every day, but her body was working overtime to create this tiny human inside of her that she was dead on her feet at the end of most days.

"What was that about?" Emily said as she nodded towards the door, indicating her conversation just now with the petite brunette.

"Oh, I, uh, I wanted to clear the air with Aria."

Emily studied Alison's face, trying to get a read on her mood. "How'd that go?" She asked, slightly hesitantly.

Alison bit the inside of her cheek. "Good, I think. I know Jason likes her a lot, and I want us all to get along if we're going to be hanging out more."

"But…" Emily could tell there was more that the blonde wasn't saying.

"But she warned me not to hurt you again. She told me she hoped that Elliott wouldn't get between us."

"Oh, ok." Emily's face fell and her jaw clenched, once again, at the mention of that piece of shit ex of Alison's.

Alison gave Emily a sad smile and ducked her head to meet Emily's gaze. "Em, look at me. You have _nothing_ to worry about. I told her that Elliott already tried to break us up once, and I was _never_ going to let that happen again. I _love_ you. I can't wait to be a family, just the three of us, ok?"

Emily's jaw relaxed at Alison's words. "Yeah, Aria kind of said something to me earlier about it, too. I kind of yelled at her a little bit." Emily was looking shyly at Alison, ashamed of her outburst at one of her closest childhood friends.

"You didn't!" Alison's mouth fell open in shock. When Emily weakly nodded her head in affirmation, her eyes widened in an 'oops' sort of way that Alison found both hilarious and endearing. "Well look at that! Who would have thought in a million years that Emily Fields would be defending Alison DiLaurentis. Watch out, or I'm gonna have to start calling you 'killer'." Alison winked at Emily.

The way 'killer' rolled off Alison's tongue had sounded incredibly sexy to Emily. Her eyes got a shade darker as she took Alison by the hips and pulled her flush against her body. "I could show you how much of a killer I am upstairs."

Alison giggled as she tried, but failed miserably, to stifle a yawn. She burrowed her head against Emily's chest and breathed in her girlfriend. "As much as I would love that, I'm so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open. Can we just go snuggle in bed?"

Emily couldn't be disappointed with Alison buried up against her. She ran her fingers through Alison's hair gently. "Sure, babe. I'll grab us a couple of waters, you head on up and start getting ready." She pulled back and placed a gentle kiss to Alison's forehead. "Love you."

"I love you, too." Alison said as she smiled and made her way up the stairs and to their bedroom.

 **A/N 2: Ok, I'm off to post the next chapter now. Please let me know what you thought!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Happy double update! Just a warning, things get pretty steamy towards the end of this chapter, so you might want to take into consideration where you read this. Again, thanks for the reviews/follows/favorites so far! I know I am going to do a time jump next chapter, I just haven't decided exactly how far ahead I want to go. I'll be starting that chapter in the morning. Hope you all have a great week! I will see you at the end of it most likely! As always, let me know what you think! I love hearing from you!**

"Are you sure you don't want to head into Philly and spend New Year's with Jason and Aria?"

Alison just rolled her eyes at her girlfriend. Emily had already asked her three times, and each time Alison had said she just wanted to spend the night in, snuggled up on the couch together. "I'm sure. Honestly, I'm not even sure I'm gonna make it to midnight." Alison smirked to herself as she saw Emily's face drop, almost too quickly to notice, before glazing over with a look of concern.

"You feeling ok?" When Alison gave her a look of confusion, Emily continued. "You've been acting, kind of, _off_ today."

"Yeah, I'm just not feeling 100% today. I feel like all the excitement from Christmas and then the move and having Aria and Jason over a couple nights ago…" She blew out a breath and ran her fingers through her hair. "I think it's all kind of just caught up to me." Emily stepped closer and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. Alison turned her head, nuzzling her nose into Emily's neck and taking a deep inhale of the brunette's scent. "I'm sorry, I know how much you were looking forward to tonight."

Emily sighed as she placed a small kiss to the top of Alison's head. "It's ok. I know we've had a crazy week and have been doing a lot of running around." Emily was glad that Alison had her head buried in her neck so she couldn't see the look of disappointment on her face. Next to Christmas, New Year's was her favorite holiday. She loved the fresh start that always seemed to come with it. Everyone just gathering together in celebration of making it through another year, it didn't matter that you were surrounded by strangers.

And this year, they had a lot to look forward to. They were going to be bringing a _baby_ into the world in 5 months. Someone who would be _completely_ dependent on them for everything she needs, for the first few years, at least. She was so excited to take that step with Alison. She also wanted to celebrate this passing year and everything that came with it. Yeah, the first 9 months were really nothing special, but the end of it? _Amazing!_ Alison had brought her back to life, made her _feel_ again. She never knew that a love as deep as they shared could have ever existed.

So yeah, she was more than a little bummed that they would probably be asleep for the ball drop, but she couldn't hold it against Alison. Alison's body was working double time, creating a _life_. Her body never rested, making sure that the tiny human inside of her was getting everything it needed to grow healthy and strong. Little fingers and toes were being formed at _that very moment._ Tiny little organs were beginning to form. It was absolutely incredible what the female human body was capable of. Just thinking about it, Emily was in complete awe of the beautiful blonde in her arms. So no, she couldn't blame Alison if she fell asleep standing up right now. She had every right to be asleep whenever she wanted to be. And if her girlfriend needed sleep instead of staying up and watching the ball drop to ring in the new year, then she was going to in bed beside her, holding her close, making her feel safe.

"It's ok. I know school gets back in session the day after tomorrow. I don't want you to push it and then not be 100% come Tuesday. I'm sure those kids would hate to have you miss a day of lectures and stare downs from you." Emily said teasingly against Alison's blonde locks as Alison quickly swatted her playfully on the back.

"Hey! When those kids get older, they are going to look back and realize how much they loved being in my class!" Alison said in rebuttal. They stood there, enjoying the silence in each other's company. Alison had never felt so at peace with someone before in her life. To her, Emily was her home. It didn't matter where they lived or where they were. As long as she had Emily, she would be ok. "Do you _have_ to leave?"

"Babe, I'll only be gone a few hours. My mom said she just needed help with something around the apartment. We are meeting up for coffee beforehand to catch up a little bit." Emily was really looking forward to spending some time alone with her mom. They had talked a couple of times throughout the week and texted at least once a day, but Emily _needed_ to be sure that her mom was ok, and the only way to do that would be to see her in person. "You rest up on the couch and I'll be home before you know it."

"I'll miss you." Alison said as she placed a gentle kiss to Emily's lips.

Emily smiled. "I'll miss you too. I love you."

"Love you too."

Alison watched Emily grab her coat and keys and head out the front door. As she watched the headlights of her girlfriend's car fade away, she quickly grabbed her phone and sent off a text message.

 **She just left, come on in when you get here, I'll leave the door unlocked. – Ali**

A few minutes later, Alison heard the front door open. "She didn't see you, right?"

"No, I don't think so, I came from the opposite direction, so she shouldn't have seen me," Pam said as she took the box she was carrying and placed it on the kitchen counter.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Pam. I hope Em will like it." Alison gave Pam a grateful smile and quick hug.

"I know she will, sweetie. I should go though, don't want her to thing that something is up." Pam gave Alison a wink as she turned on her heel and headed back for the door, letting herself out.

Alison stood at the counter, palms flat on the cool marble as she took in a deep breath and let it out. "Alright, let's do this," she said to the empty space around her.

XXXXX

Emily was sitting in her favorite spot at The Brew, the couch at the very back, waiting for her mother. She had gotten a text about 10 minutes ago from Pam telling her that she was going to be about 10-15 minutes late because she had gotten caught up with something. Emily huffed out, wishing that she had known sooner that her mom was going to be late so she didn't have to leave so early and could have enjoyed just a few more minutes with Alison before she left. At the moment, she was mindlessly scrolling through social media, trying to find anything to occupy her time while she waited for her mom. She had called the blonde, but when she didn't answer, had tried to strike up a text conversation to no avail. The bell above the door rung out and Emily saw the flash of brown hair as her mother came through the door. She tucked her phone back in her pocket as she stood up and smiled, greeting her mom with a wave.

"Mom! Hi!" She called out as she pulled her mom into a tight hug.

Pam smiled and reciprocated the embrace. "Hi, honey! How are you?"

"I've been good. I've missed you." Even though it had only been less than a week, Emily had missed being around her mom. It had been just the two of them for most of her life. Even when her dad _was_ alive, he had been deployed on a few tours of duty, so they had gotten used to having just the two of them around for company. Even though it was time for her to move on with her life, there was a part of her that knew she would always be sad about not having her mom around as much. "I grabbed you a coffee, black, two sugars." Emily motioned to the second cup sitting on the low coffee table.

"Thank you. I've missed you, too." As much as Pam knew that she needed to let Emily go, she was still struggling with being alone sometimes. She didn't want to burden Emily with her feelings because she knew that Emily would feel guilty about having left. And Emily _deserved_ to make a life for herself with Alison, much in the same was that she had made a life with Wayne all those years ago. She hoped that it would get easier as time went on. "How have you been? How's Alison?"

"She's good. She's not feeling that great today." As she spoke, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to see a text waiting from Alison.

 **Sorry, babe, I was taking a bath and left my phone in the bedroom charging. Have fun with your mom. I miss you and I love you. – Ali X**

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is everything ok?" Pam said with a look of concern as Emily checked her phone.

"Yeah, everything's fine. That was Alison. She's just a little run down from the week, I think. With the move and then Aria and Jason coming over a couple nights ago for dinner and we had a doctor's visit this week. So it hasn't been as relaxing as we both would have liked and I think it's all caught up to her."

"How did the doctor's go?"

"Good. Really good, actually." Pam didn't know that they had found out the gender of the baby yet and Emily got Alison's blessing to tell her today. "Actually, we have some news." Emily said as she took a sip of her cooling coffee that she had ordered when she arrived.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Pam took a sip of her coffee before setting it back down.

Emily's lips curled into a smile. "You're going to have a grand _daughter_!"

Pam's eyes lit up. "Really? A girl? That's amazing, Emmy. I'm so happy for you guys. Is Alison excited?"

Emily cleared her throat. "I think she is, _now_ at least."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when we first found out, Alison took it a little hard. She's nervous that her past is going to repeat itself with the baby."

Pam grabbed Emily's hand across the couch. "Do you think that's going to happen?"

Enily shook her head. "No. She was really upset though. She feels really bad for the way she used to be and how she used to act. I was starting to think that she had gotten past a lot of those insecurities, but I think finding out that we are having a girl scared her."

"I know you two will raise a beautiful, healthy, kind, sweet, caring little girl. You two are going to be amazing moms."

Emily laid her head on Pam's shoulder. "Thanks, mom."

"You also know that I'm only a phone call and short car ride away if you girls need anything."

"We know, mom. Thank you. I love you."

"I love you, too." Pam couldn't contain her excitement at becoming a grandmother, and to a grand _daughter_ no less! "I'm so happy and excited for you two!" She took another sip of her coffee before snapping her fingers as though she had just had an idea. "How about after this, we head over to the storage unit, take a look at some of your old baby furniture, and if you and Alison decide you want to use it, it's yours."

Emily furrowed her brows. "I thought you needed help with something at the apartment?"

Pam waved her question away. "We have more important things to worry about now. It can wait."

Emily just rolled her eyes at her mom and laughed. She loved how excited Pam was about them having a little girl. She could definitely imagine Pam on the floor playing dolls and tea party with a little girl running around. She could see them both snuggled up on the couch under a blanket doing story time. Emily smiled to herself. In her eyes, the next five months couldn't come soon enough.

XXXXX

Just under 3 hours later, Emily was finally pulling into the driveway of her and Alison's house. Her and her mom had spent about two hours going through the storage unit. It had started with looking at Emily's old crib, high chair and bassinette, but their attention had turned soon after to boxes full of old photos, Emily's swim trophies and academic awards. There were a few tears shed at family pictures that would forever be one short without Wayne, but lots more laughs at the memories jogged back to life by most photos. It was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions for the brunette.

As she headed for the house, none of the lights looked like they were on and Emily frowned slightly. She had hoped that Alison was still awake, with it being not even 8 o'clock, but she assumed that the blonde must really not have been feeling well. This thought concerned her, hoping that it really was just being on the go so much this week had worn the blonde out, and not something else more serious. She slid her key into the lock as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake Alison if she happened to be asleep on the couch.

What she walked into though, was something that she never in a million years would have guessed. All the lights were off on the lower level and there was a soft hue created by tens of candles burning throughout the living room, foyer and dining room. Emily's nose quickly picked up the smell of food cooking. Her jaw dropped when she turned to head into the kitchen, the sight in the dining room stopping her dead in her tracks. The table was set up beautifully, lit with three ornate candlesticks and a bouquet of _gorgeous_ roses in the middle. There were two plates, already plated with filet mignon, lobster tails, mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans.

But the sight that made Emily's breath catch in her throat was that of her girlfriend. Her amazing, beautiful girlfriend. Alison was standing at the head of the table, dressed in a short, black dress that fit her _perfectly_. Emily's eyes racked her girlfriend's body, starting from her perfectly curled, blonde hair, flowing down her bare shoulders, resting perfecty on the swell of her cleavage that looked absolutely delicious in that dress. Her eyes wandered down to Alison's hips, hugged perfectly by the dress, showing off her precious baby bump before stopping mid-thigh. Emily's mouth watered at the blonde's long legs perched on top of black 4-inch heels.

"Like what you see?" Alison smirked as Emily's eyes shot back up to her girlfriend, a huge smile plastered onto her face.

Emily stalked over to her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around Alison's waist. "I _love_ what I see," she said huskily before capturing Alison's lips in a passionate kiss. "You did this _all_ while I was gone?"

"Yep." Alison said before she ran her tongue over Emily's lips, sending a shiver down her spine.

"How? I mean, you did this all yourself?" Emily was still in disbelief and her mind was clouded by thoughts of what she wanted to do to Alison in that dress. Emily narrowed her eyes. "I thought you were feeling sick?"

Alison looked seductively at Emily. "Well, it seems I've made a miraculous recovery." Alison placed a linger kiss to Emily's lips.

Emily let out a shaky breath, realization finally hitting her. "You and my mom planned this, didn't you?"

Alison smirked. "Yes, your mom helped get you out of the house so I could surprise you and make you dinner." Alison slowly walked Emily backwards until her body was pressed between Alison's front and the wall. "But she had _nothing_ to do with what I have planned for dessert." Alison's tongue ran up the shell of Alison's ear. Emily felt goosebumps erupt over her body and a familiar throbbing began to build between her legs. And as quickly as it was there, it was gone, Alison stalking away, swaying her hips in exaggeration, towards the table, pulling Emily's chair out before stating in a voice painfully low, "dinner is served." Emily could see Alison's eyes grow impossibly dark. She thought that her knees were going to buckle right then and there.

Emily took a breath to try to steady herself before walking over to the seat pulled out for her. She cleared her throat as Alison bent down, cleavage in Emily's eye line, to pour the brunette her drink. Alison could see that Emily's eyes were almost black, her pupils completely blown. Emily had no idea how she was going to get through this meal.

The next thirty or so minutes were excruciating for Emily. She could swear that Alison was purposely trying to make this as hard as possible, and it was working. Alison continued to make suggestive comments throughout dinner, along with noises and moans that made Emily almost lose it more than once in the middle of chewing her food. Not to mention the times that Alison dragged the heel of her shoe up the back of Emily's leg. At one point, Alison had gently pushed the toe of her shoe into Emily's center, causing Emily to take a deep breath in and slam her eyes shut, trying to control herself. She was fairly certain after that incident that her wetness had soaked through not only her panties, but her jeans, as well.

Once Emily had finally eaten the last bite, she went to stand and grabbed the now empty plates. "Leave it." Alison replied quickly as she stood up, pushing her chair against the floor and rounding to face Emily. "I hope you saved room for dessert," she said sensually. Alison could see Emily swallow hard and she smirked to herself at how riled up she had gotten the brunette. Before Emily could form a coherent thought and respond to the blonde, Alison brought her lips to Emily's ear, her hot breath washing over the sensitive area. "I know that was hard for you, but it was even _harder_ for me." Alison's hand slid from Emily's waist and grabbed Emily's right hand. She interlocked their fingers and slowly brought their joined hands underneath Alison's dress and into the blonde's center.

"Ali…" Emily moaned as her hand was met with hot, wet flesh and nothing more. Her mind was spiraling out of control and she felt like she was about to explode. Emily crashed their lips together, immediately deepening it and she swallowed a moan as her fingers began to play through wet folds.

Alison pulled her hand and mouth away and took a step back from the brunette. Alison could see the pained look in Emily's face as she whimpered at the loss of contact. "I have one more surprise upstairs. Would you like to see it?" Emily's mind had gone to complete mush, and the only response she was able to give was a quick nod of her head. Alison grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs into the bedroom. Emily had recovered enough to notice what was different as soon as she walked into the room. There were rose petals strewn about the bed and floor and over sat on the windowsill was a sight that made Emily's eyes almost bulge out of her head. Across the room, was a tiny replica of the Time Square building with a miniature ball atop a pole. At the bottom of the pole sat a sign with 2018 in big blocky numbers.

"Y-you did this, for me?" Emily was honestly shocked by how this night had turned out.

Alison turned around so they were face to face a smiled. It wasn't a sexy smirk, but a genuine smile that made her dimples really stand out. "I know much you were looking forward to tonight," she said as she placed a kiss to the tip of Emily's nose.

"Ali, this is amazing. _You_ are amazing. I love you."

"I love you too." Her genuine smile slowly morphed back into the sexy smirk that she wore throughout most of dinner. "I can't ring in the New Year naked if we are out in public." She pressed her front up as close as she could to Emily before Emily swallowed hard. Emily captured her lips in a needy, desperate kiss. Her hands wandered behind the blonde and unzipped her dress, before lifting it up and over Alison's head. Emily took in the sight on her naked girlfriend in front of her in nothing but 4-inch heels and new arousal began to coat her inside of her thighs.

Alison's hands quickly found the button of Emily's jeans, pulling them down to her ankles before Emily stepped out of them and kicked them across the room. Alison made even quicker work of Emily's top before Emily began walking backwards, reconnecting their lips as the back of Emily's knees came in contact with the bed. Emily sat down, gently pulling her girlfriend with her and on top of her. Alison placed her legs on either side of Emily, her center pressed up against the tanned, toned stomach of the brunette. Emily's hands became tangled in golden tresses as Alison's hands found their way behind Emily's back and unclasped her bra. Emily untangled her hands from Alison's hair so she could take the undergarment and throw it off to the side with their other discarded articles of clothing.

Emily's lips began to work the skin of Alison's neck, before trailing her lips down to the skin on Alison's breasts. Her mouth met one of Alison's nipples while Emily's hand working the other one, twisting and pulling the bud until it was fully hard. Alison moaned at the sensation, her nipples becoming more sensitive with each passing day. But Emily always knew just how much the blonde could take. She was able to toe the line expertly and pull back just before it became too much. And the sensations drove Alison crazy with want. She buried her hands in Emily's long hair, keeping the brunette close as she began to rock, grinding her hips into Emily's stomach, creating friction where she needed it most.

Alison had gotten into a slow rhythm before Emily pulled back and began crawling to lay back on the bed, Alison straddling her hips. Alison leaned down to kiss Emily once more, beginning slowly before running her tongue across Emily's bottom lip. She was quickly granted access as their tongues fought for dominance. Alison's quickly won and Emily's hands moved to Alison's back, pulling her close as her fingernails began to dig into pale skin. Alison released a moan at the sensation, rocking her hips once again. Emily snaked a hand between their bodies, finding Alison's slick folds and running two fingers through with no resistance. She began rubbing ghost-like, tiny circles on Alison's clit, hardly enough pressure to bring any release and if anything, only bring more frustration to the blonde. "That's for dinner," Emily smiled against Alison's lips.

Alison whimpered and knew she deserved the tease after what she had put the brunette through. She had originally just wanted to tease the woman slightly, but after seeing Emily's reaction, she became turned on way more than expected. She could see the dirty thoughts running through Emily's mind with each lingering look and moan that escaped her mouth at dinner. At one point, Emily's eyes were so dark with lust, Alison had to squeeze her thighs together to help her get some sort of relief. But she couldn't break character, because she knew that the moment she came undone on top of Emily was going to be one of the best moment's she'd ever experienced. "Please, Em…" she choked out.

"Please, what, Ali?" Emily drawled out slowly as she continued to rub light circles on Alison's clit before teasing her entrance cruelly with the tips of two fingers.

"Stop teasing, please." Alison panted out as her breath hitched. She pulled the same pained look that Emily had given her before coming upstairs and Emily smirked to herself, seeming like the tables had turned on the blonde.

"It's no fun to be teased, now is it?" Nimble fingers pushed slightly more inside, before pulling out again and working the hardening bundle of nerves once again.

"It's fun, but I need you inside of me, Em. I _need_ to come all over you." At those words, new arousal flooded Emily as she plunged two fingers deep within Alison. "Fuuucccckkk," Alison moaned out as she was finally offered a release to her torture. Alison sat up, riding Emily's fingers while her hands ran up and down Emily's front, eventually finding Emily's nipples, twisting and pulling until they became fully hardened. Emily's fingers curled inside of Alison, dragging her fingers down the front of Alison's walls, bringing Alison closer to the edge. As she continued to sink deeper onto Emily's fingers, she began to feel the beginnings of her orgasm gather in the pit of her stomach. She slid one of her hands down the front of her body, beginning to play with her clit as Emily continued to fuck her. A layer of sweat beginning to gather on their skins, the only sounds in the room are the moans escaping the blondes mouth and the arousal pooling at her center.

"Em, I'm so close." Alison breathed out as the tightening intensified. Emily's fingers working her like never before, she vigorously rubbed at her clit, her walls tightening around Emily's fingers.

"I love how tight you are around me. I love feeling you come on my fingers." Emily could feel herself growing more and more aroused with each passing moment. At her girlfriend's words, Alison's orgasm came crashing through her. Emily felt hot liquid spill down into her palm as Alison's body tensed and then trembled above her. Once Alison had rode out the last of her high, she laid down on top of Emily, trying her best to steady her breathing.

Emily placed a kiss into Alison's slightly damp with sweat hair. "I love you." Alison smiled against bronzed skin as she ghosted her fingers over Emily's stomach.

"I love you too," Alison sighed out. She looked at Emily seductively as she sifted her leg between Emily's legs, pressing into her center. Emily closed her eyes and moaned at the feeling. Alison's mouth slowly curled into a smirk as she climbed back up Emily's body and kissed her deeply once more.

After three more rounds, they laid in bed, their naked bodies tangled into one another as a thin layer of sweat covered both of them. Emily ran her hand through Alison's hair. "This has been the best New Years I've ever had. Thank you so much for this."

Alison looked up at her girlfriend and smiled. "I just wanted to start off the year right. We have so much to look forward to this year." She placed a gentle kiss on Emily's chest, right over her heart, before she glanced at the clock on the dresser. 11:59. "Hey Em, it's almost midnight."

Right on cue, the little ball drop replica began to light up and the ball began to slowly fall. Emily noticed and her eyes lit up. "Really?" she asked as she looked at Alison. Alison couldn't help but smile at the look in Emily's face. It was like Christmas morning all over again.

Alison began a slow count down, her voice quiet. "5…4…3…2…1… Happy New Year, Em."

"Happy New Year, Ali," Emily said as she pressed her lips to Emily's.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, until things progressed once again and they rang in the new year the same way they spent the final couple of hours, tanged in the sheets together, feeling each other's love in the best way possible.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. Hope you all enjoy! Reviews are welcome as always. Thanks for reading!**

The next three months had, for the most part, been amazing for the girls. Winter was coming to an end and the weather outside was starting to warm up. Spring was always one of Alison's favorite times of the year, but knowing that she was going to soon be bringing a life into this world made this spring seem more magical to the blonde. Alison was looking forward to being able to finally get out of the house some and enjoy the warmer weather. She was looking forward to taking walks with Emily on the weekends and unwinding on the front porch swing after a long day.

Alison had finally gotten to the "good" part of her pregnancy where she rarely felt nauseous and felt like she had more energy than early on, even though she was carrying a significant bulge on her front. Neither woman could get enough of Alison's baby bump. Even though she would get annoyed with the fact that she had to use the bathroom every hour, feeling her baby grow inside of her was one of the most amazing things she had ever experienced in her life. Her and Emily spent countless nights lying on the couch, watching and feeling as their little girl kicked and moved around inside of Alison. They read her stories and Alison even sang to her when she wasn't feeling bashful. Each night, as Emily crawled into bed, she made a pit stop and placed a single kiss to Alison's stomach before whispering "I love you" to her growing baby. It made Alison's heart melt every single night and she had had to fight back tears at the gesture on more than one occasion.

Emily and Alison felt so blessed at the support that they had gotten from their coworkers and administration at Rosewood High. Alison was slightly nervous coming back from winter break for a couple of reasons. The first was because only a few of the staff knew about her and Emily's relationship. They had decided that within the school, they needed to keep things professional, so they obviously didn't flaunt the fact that they were together in front of the other staff. They were, however, inseparable before school, on their mutual lunch, and their one shared off period, not to mention they left and arrived together now that Emily no longer had swim practices. Before break, a few curious staff members approached both Alison and Emily separately and neither one denied their relationship. Alison wondered how quickly the entire staff would know now after break. The other, and most likely stronger, reason she was so nervous was that she had finally "popped". By the time they returned to work after Christmas break, Alison was well into her second trimester and there was no questioning if she was pregnant or not.

She had kept most of her relationship with Elliott close to her heart, especially about the abuse and divorce. She was sure that there would be looks and words thrown her way considering how secretive she kept everything. Sometimes, she still felt like she deserved the harsh looks and unkind words because that was exactly what _she_ would have done in high school. However, to Alison's surprise, the staff had been nothing but welcoming and accepting of her raising the baby with Emily. Even so much so that on the Friday before mid-winter break towards the end of February, they surprised the two women with a baby shower in the teacher's lounge. Alison and Emily were completely shocked and so, so grateful for the gesture and all the baby items that they received.

It was around that time that Alison began her "nesting" phase and had begun bugging Emily to hurry up and get the nursery together. Firstly, they needed to decide on a theme for their baby girl. It didn't them long to decide on solid colors of lavender, grey and white. Once Emily had finally painted, she began to slowly move her old baby furniture from her mom's storage unit and into the nursery. It wasn't before long that the crib, dresser and changing table were set up, along with decorations on the walls. The two had spent a majority of their free time in that room, and were looking forward to finally being able to hold their baby and watch her as she slept peacefully. One such day had brought discussions of baby names, which they were having the hardest time deciding on.

 _Emily was busy putting her old crib together while Alison organized the changing table with diapers, wipes and rash cream that they had gotten from the baby shower at the high school._

 _"What about Charlotte?" Alison asked while stacking tiny diapers into a bin._

 _Emily scrunched up her nose. "Um, no."_

 _Alison laughed. "You've shot down every name I've suggested so far!"_

 _"Cause they've all been_ awful _choices!" Emily said mockingly._

 _Alison placed her hand on her heart, feigning shock. "Ok then, smart ass, how about_ you _come up with some names?"_

 _Emily placed her finger on her chin, looking like she was deep in thought. "How about Lily? Or Grace?"_

 _Alison frowned. "You're worse at this than I am!" She let out a laugh as Emily stuck her tongue out and grabbed the light brown teddy bear that was sitting within arm's reach and threw it at her girlfriend. Alison easily ducked out of the way of the flying plush toy and watched as it landed in the hallway. Emily took the opportunity to quickly get up from the floor and close the distance between the two. Alison had her tongue sticking out as she went to turn around and was startled to be met with Emily's soft lips. She hummed in surprise as she kissed her back lovingly._

Since then, they still hadn't been able to decide on a name for their daughter. No name that they picked out seemed special enough for their little girl. They both knew that they wanted a name that was special to them both, they just couldn't decide on one together. They both agreed that they probably wouldn't be able to decide on a name until they actually _met_ their little girl in person.

The only real thing that the women could have done without was Elliott. He had been quiet initially, but it seemed to Alison that he made it his New Year's resolution to make her life as difficult as possible. She had gotten a drunken phone call from him shortly after New Year's, demanding that a paternity test was needed to prove that he was the father, saying that Alison was never faithful to him. Alison was shocked. She didn't get why he would say that she was the unfaithful one. Maybe he was projecting his actions onto her? Or maybe he was hoping that Emily would believe she was a cheat? The second scenario scared Alison more than the first, but she was glad when Emily completely brushed off anything he had to say in her conversation with her dreadful ex.

He was quiet again for about a month until they received the next alcohol-induced phone call. This time Elliott broke down to tears and confessed that he wanted Alison back. _"Please, Ali. I was such an idiot. CeCe meant nothing!"_ he pled over the phone. Alison had rolled her eyes and let him continue to blabber on about how sorry he was and how he never meant to hurt her. When he was finally done with his ramble, Alison sighed heavily into the phone and said her peace. _"Look, Elliott, I'm happy with Emily. I'm the happiest I've ever been, honestly. I'm sorry that you are hurting right now, but you_ ended _it the day you slipped into bed with my best friend."_ Elliott's demeanor completely changed and he grew angry with her, telling her, again, that his child wouldn't be raised in a house of sin. At this, Alison had enough and hung up on him. She sent his next two calls straight to voicemail.

For about the past 3 weeks, it seemed that he had stepped up his game. He was calling multiple times a week, usually drunk, to berate Alison and tell her how shitty of a mom she was going to be. Eventually, Alison stopped answering and deleted his voicemails he left her. She even blocked his number after the first week, but then he started calling from unknown numbers. He had even somehow gotten Emily's number and started harassing her. One night, it got to be too much for Alison to take.

 _"God! I_ hate _him! He's just evil. He's an asshole who's miserable and wants to bring everyone down around him. I want to just rip his balls off right now!" Alison paced back and forth as Emily sat on the couch watching her intently. Alison was nearly 7 months along, and her walking was beginning to look like it was getting uncomfortable. Emily could see that her cheeks were flushing red and Emily was worried that her blood pressure was unhealthily high for both her_ and _the baby. She stood up, rounded the coffee table and braced herself as she stepped into Alison's path. Alison's head was bowed, so she didn't notice Emily had even stood up until she felt Emily's arms gently press on her shoulders._

 _"Ali, baby, you need to take a breath," Emily pleaded._

 _Alison looked up and deadpanned, "what I_ need _to do is go over there and rip his throat out!" She sidestepped Emily and continued her pacing, fists clenched at her sides._

 _"Ali! You_ need _to stop, and you_ need _to breathe. This stress isn't good for either of you!" Emily took one hand and grabbed the back of Alison's neck, bringing their foreheads together while her other hand rested gently on the side of Alison's belly. "Focus on me, on_ us _._ We _are what matter right now,_ not _him."_

 _Alison looked into pleading brown eyes and the red she was seeing began to clear. She took a deep breath and blew it out. She felt Emily nod slightly against her head and she took another breath and let it out, trying to release her tension with it. "I'm sorry, he just infuriates me sometimes. And I just want him to_ stop _harassing us!" A single tear slipped down Alison's cheek as her frustrations began to spill over. Emily quickly kissed it away as a smile formed on Alison's lips at the gesture._ 'God, this woman always know exactly what I need' _, Alison thought to herself._

 _"I know, baby. We could go down to the police station. Take out a restraining order against him? Make it so that he can't contact you. My mom is working."_

 _Alison took another deep breath. "I really don't want it to come to that, Em. I don't this to escalate and then our daughter is part of some huge custody thing."_

 _After that, they stood in silence, both deep in thought. "What if we changed our numbers? He can't call us if he doesn't know our numbers?" Emily's eyes looked hopeful at her idea._

 _"He already found your number once, though, Em. What if he does it again?" Alison questioned._

 _"At least it will give us some peace from him, for now at least."_

 _Alison closed her eyes and gently pecked Emily's lips. "I love you, so much. We can go to the phone store tomorrow after work."_

Since changing their numbers, they had not heard from Elliott. They were both thankful for the peace and quiet of not being harassed daily. It was midafternoon and Emily was walking the streets of downtown Rosewood. Alison had a department meeting after school, so she decided to walk home considering it was one of the nicest days of the year so far. She was enjoying soaking up the sun and wasn't really paying attention to where she was going when she accidentally bumped shoulders with a tall brunette with her face stuck in her phone.

"Sorry," Emily mumbled, embarrassed that she wasn't paying attention and completely ran _into_ someone, not looking at the woman and kept walking.

"Emily?" She heard a voice ask tentatively. Emily stopped walking and the woman spoke to her once more. "Emily Fields?"

Something deep down inside of Emily recognized the voice, but it wasn't until Emily turned around that she recognized its owner. "Spencer?" Emily began walking towards the taller brunette, stopping right in front of her on the sidewalk. Spencer had definitely changed more than Aria had. She was much taller now, and while she was still slim, she was more toned than she was in middle school. Her hair was a few shades lighter, but she basically wore it the same, straight and down around her face. Emily leaned forward and gave Spencer a hug. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's great to see you, too!" Spencer said. "I didn't know you were back. When did you get back?"

"Mom and I moved back here about a year ago. We needed a change from Texas and mom wanted to be closer to family," Emily smiled. She noticed the look on Spencer's face and braced herself for what was coming next.

"Sorry to hear about your dad, Em," Spencer said with a sympathetic smile.

Emily hated that look Spencer was giving her right now. She hated the looks of pity for her and her mom. She was uncomfortable still talking about her father with most people, but she knew that those looks weren't going to disappear any time soon. So she did what she always did and smiled politely while she gave her generic "thank you" before changing the subject. "Are you back to help with your mom's campaign?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

Spencer gave her a surprised look. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"I actually saw Melissa a few months ago and she told us," Emily shrugged.

"Huh, she never mentioned she ran into you."

Emily bit the inside of her cheek. "It was while she was working, so…"

Spencer's eyes went wide. A small grin quickly formed on her face. "Em, are you pregnant?"

"What? No!" Emily said quickly.

"But you said you saw Melissa at her work. She's an ultrasound tech at an OBGYN office." Spencer furrowed her brows together in confusion. Then her face fell. "What? You're not like sick or anything, are you?"

Emily couldn't help the laugh that fell from her mouth at Spencer's little rant. The way her face kept morphing as different ideas popped into her head was almost too comical for Emily to take. Spencer gave her a serious look while placing her hands on her hips. "Sorry, your face though was pretty funny!" Spencer's face softened. "Um, actually, my girlfriend is pregnant."

Spencer's face lit up. "Oh my god! Really? Congratulations!" Spencer pulled Emily into another hug. "Hey, I have some free time, you wanna head to the Brew for a coffee?"

Emily smiled. "Yeah, that'd be awesome! Ali is working late, so I have some time to kill."

They started heading towards the Brew, mostly with Emily asking questions and Spencer telling her all about her life in D.C. and what her role was going to be for her mother's campaign. They finally headed through the doors of the Brew. "I hope your mom wins. She's an amazing woman and I know she'll do great things for the state."

Spencer beamed with pride at the thought of her mother being Senator of the state. "Thanks, Em. You still drinking your Americanos?"

"Yeah, but I can get it, Spence." Emily smiled at how easily they slipped back into old times using their old nick names for each other. Emily began digging in her purse for her wallet.

Spencer quickly stopped her. "Don't worry, really, I got it." Spencer gave Emily a sincere smile as she gently placed her hand on Emily's forearm, stilling her search. "Go grab us a seat, I'll bring our drinks over in a sec."

Emily nodded and looked around. She saw that familiar couch in the back was unoccupied, so she headed over and waited for Spencer to bring them their drinks. After a minute, she accepted her cup from Spencer as the taller brunette took a seat next to her on the couch. Their conversation flowed freely, catching up on life. Emily told Spencer about her life the past few years, about Texas and college and her move back to Rosewood. They relived memories from the past of the four of them having sleepovers and hanging out in Spencer's barn.

"God, I miss that barn," Emily sighed while she took the last swig of her coffee.

"It's actually my new apartment now. You're welcome to stop by anytime," Spencer beamed at Emily. Emily gave her a grateful smile. "So, tell me about this mysterious girlfriend of yours," Spencer nudged Emily playfully and wiggled her eyebrows.

Emily swallowed hard and her palms began to sweat. She looked away from Spencer, finding a loose thread on the arm of the couch and playing with it absentmindedly. "Ummm, well, her name's Alison."

Spencer just looked at her. "Yeah, I got that already. What else?"

"We work together at the high school. She's head of the English department, actually." Emily couldn't help but smile talking about Alison and her anxiety slowly disappeared as visions of her blonde began popping up in her head. Spencer nudged her to continue. "She's so smart, and funny, and beautiful, and so, so kind." Emily was beaming now.

Spencer's mouth grew wide seeing Emily so happy. "So, how long have you guy been together?"

Emily's face fell and her anxiety returned. She began picking at the loose thread again. "Ummmm, since October, so about 5 months." She didn't look at Spencer, but could feel her eyes boring into her temple.

Spencer cleared her throat. "Oh, um, ok."

Emily could sense the questioning tone and knew Spencer _wanted_ to delve further. Emily quickly jumped to try and defend her and Alison's relationship. "But we knew each other, briefly when we were younger." The words spilled from her mouth before she really thought of their consequences. She looked quickly to Spencer and saw her face furrow into confusion before the look of realization overtook her. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "Spence…" She tried to do some damage control, but it was too late.

"Alison DiLaurentis? _The_ Alison DiLaurentis?!"

Emily began looking around, seeing if there was anyone within earshot to hear their conversation. Emily should have known better. Spencer was one of the smartest people that she knew and was always the first and best to figure out everything. "Spence, keep your voice down, please."

But Spencer seemed to ignore her. "The girl who made your life a living _hell_ in high school? The girl who spread awful rumors about you to the entire school?!" Spencer was shaking her head in disappointment.

Emily looked at Spencer with pleading eyes. "She didn't mean any of that stuff. She got caught up, she feels awful."

"She feels _awful_ about calling you a dyke? She feels _awful_ about taking that video of you and Paige and spreading it to the whole school? She was a _bitch_ , Emily. A total and complete _bitch_ who didn't give a _shit_ about anyone other than herself and her little groupies." Spencer spat out at Emily. "She drove you out of the goddamn state!"

Before she knew it, that anger that Emily had tucked away came bursting through the surface. "Yeah, she did all those things, but she's _sorry_. She's shown me how sorry she is for her mistakes and has more than made up for them! She treats me the way no one else ever has!" Her eyes began to brim with tears as the words came spilling from her mouth. "And _she_ wasn't the one who made my decision to leave so easy!" Emily was glaring at Spencer now. "My _friends_ made it so easy for me to leave!"

Spencer's mouth opened in shock. "Us? We didn't do anything to you!"

One fat, hot tear rolled down Emily's cheek. "Exactly! You guys didn't _do_ anything! I felt so _alone!_ You guys all had new friends and new lives and you just left me behind!"

Spencer's face fell. She didn't realize that Emily was hurting so bad in high school. And she never stopped to think that it could have been from herself. She just always saw Alison as the enemy. "Em, I'm sor-" Spencer reached out to grab Emily's wrist, but Emily quickly shook her off.

"Don't _touch_ me!" She turned on her heel away from Spencer and began walking away. After a few steps, her shoulders slumped and she turned around to face Spencer again. "You know, towards the end of my time here, I went to bed every night wishing that I wouldn't wake up. I had _nothing_ to look forward to. Even after we moved, a part of me still felt dead. Until I reconnected with Alison. She's changed. She's not that person anymore. She has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I've ever met. I _love_ her with all my heart and she _loves_ me just as much." Emily sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. "You know, Aria is dating her brother, so we've seen each other a few times and Aria and I have reconnected like nothing ever happened. When I heard you were coming back, I was hoping that we could all be friends again, like we used to. But I can't have you in my life if you're going to say the vile things that you just said about Alison. I'm sorry, Spence." With that, Emily turned back on her heel and walked out the door, leaving Spencer standing there while she fought the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Happy Monday everyone! I got this out a day early thanks to a pretty light work day. This next chapter involves some jealous Ali, along with another reunion, as well as some drama at the end. I'm pretty excited to write the next few chapters, so please, please, please let me know what you guys think! Thanks again for reading!**

Alison heard a knocking on her classroom door. School had ended about twenty minutes ago and she was packing up her stuff to leave for the weekend. It had been a stressful week and she wanted to just go home and relax for the next two days with Emily. She looked up to see her gorgeous brunette girlfriend standing in the doorway. A smile immediately graced her face as she walked around to the front of her desk. "Hi, baby."

Emily pushed off the doorway and sauntered over to stand in front of Alison. "Hi," she smiled as she leaned in to give Alison a quick peck on the lips.

"How are you feeling?" Alison asked as she pulled out of Emily's kiss. Ever since Emily had run into Spencer, she had seemed a little off to Alison. Emily had come home that afternoon completely broken down. Alison held her for forty minutes while she just cried into her arms. At first, Alison was worried that something might have happened to Pam, but once Emily calmed down enough, she explained what had happened at the Brew. Alison's heart broke for her girlfriend and for the pain and anger that she was still feeling after all these years. As much as Emily always said she had moved on from everything, Alison knew that deep down, it still affected Emily.

Alison hated that _she_ was the reason behind Emily's falling out with Spencer and she knew that given the chance, she would try to make things right between her and Spencer. She didn't blame Spencer at all for the things that she said and she knew that she couldn't make up for what she did to her and Toby in high school, but she held out hope that she would be able to make things right enough at least for her and Emily to rekindle their friendship.

"I'm ok. This week has been tough though, I can't wait to just relax with you." Emily touched their noses together.

"Me neither," Alison breathed out.

"You ready to get out of here?"

Alison linked their hands together. "Absolutely."

"Good! I'm driving," Emily announced as she reached her hand out, waiting for Alison to hand the keys over to her car. Alison smiled as she placed the keys in Emily's hand.

Once they were driving for a few minutes, Alison noticed that Emily missed the turn back to their house. "Em, you missed the turn."

Emily smirked at her from the driver's seat. "We're not going home. I have a surprise for you."

Alison narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend. "You know I hate surprises."

Emily beamed. "I know."

"Emily Catherine Fields! Tell me where we are going!" Alison crossed her arms over her chest and pouted out her bottom lip as she turned in her seat to face Emily.

Emily just laughed. "Will you just be patient and trust me?"

Alison huffed out as she faced forward in her seat. Emily let out a soft laugh at Alison's behavior. _She's such a child, sometimes_ , Emily thought to herself as she smiled. After about 5 more minutes of Alison pouting in the passenger seat, Emily pulled up in front of The Radley. Alison finally looked over to Emily, her face scrunched up in confusion. "Em, what are we doing here?"

Emily beamed at Alison while she reached over the center console and took Alison's hand in her own. "So the baby is going to be here in a couple months and I know things are going to get crazy for us while we finish preparing everything, so I wanted us to have one final weekend together away before life got crazy. Not have to _do_ anything, we can just relax and enjoy each other," Emily finished off with a smirk.

Alison's eyes began to water as she squeezed Emily's hand. "God, I love you so much," she said, her emotions getting the better of her. Emily constantly surprised her with how thoughtful she was. No one in her life had ever treated her with as much love and thoughtfulness as Emily had.

"I love you, too," Emily said as she slid her free hand up to Alison's cheek, brushing away the single tear that had spilled over. "We have dinner reservations at 7, so we have a few hours still to just check out our room and relax." Emily leaned in and slowly kissed the plump, soft lips that she loved so much.

After a minute, Alison pulled back and looked down at what she was wearing. "I don't have any other clothes, though."

Emily threw her a cheeky grin before getting out of the car without saying a word. She opened up the trunk and pulled out two duffle bags. She threw them each over a shoulder and walked back to the passenger side, opening the door and extending her hand to help her girlfriend out of the car. Alison smiled and took Emily's hand, intertwining their fingers once she was on her feet out of the car.

"Have I told you lately how amazing you are?" Alison said as she leaned into Emily's side as they walked through the front doors to the hotel. She was beaming with pride walking through the lobby to the front desk, knowing she had Emily on her arm and the brunette was all _hers._

"Yeah, but I never get tired of hearing it," Emily shrugged and grinned as they approached the front desk.

Alison immediately noticed the very pretty young woman behind the front desk who made eye contact with Emily and smiled brightly at her. The redhead then flashed a look Alison's way, before locking onto Emily once again. Alison inched her way ever so closer to Emily and glared at the redhead on the other side of the counter. Emily, however, didn't notice. "Hi there, reservation for Fields, please. Two adults."

The young woman flashed Emily another smile before typing away on her computer, causing Alison to scoff and roll her eyes. Emily heard her and threw her a questioning look, not noticing that the redhead looked up briefly and smiled again at Emily, this time raking her eyes up and down Emily's figure. Alison began to get extremely agitated with the redhead and wanted to get this encounter over with. Alison wrapped both her arms around Emily's waist, pulling her as close as possible with her baby bump in the way. She was throwing daggers at the young redhead, but Emily couldn't understand why, so she turned her attention back to the receptionist and waited for their key. The young woman's face fell when she finally pulled up their reservation. She cleared her throat. "Right, the uh, the honeymoon suite." Emily shot Alison a smile, but Alison was still scowling at the receptionist. "Take this hallway down to the end and take the elevators up to the 11th floor."

Emily smiled politely at the desk clerk before taking their key and turning around to pick up their bags. Alison noticed the young woman once again checking out Emily as she bent over, with a smirk on her face. Emily gave her one last smile as they headed down the hall. "I'll be here all night, just call down if you need anything and I'll be sure to bring it up personally!" The clerk called out to them.

Emily turned around, yelling a "thank you" over her shoulder before Alison groaned next to her and grabbed her hand forcing her away from the front desk faster than she had moved in months. Alison angrily hit the call button for elevator and stood with her arms over her chest, leaving Emily completely confused about what had just happened as they waited for the car. They still hadn't spoken as the doors slid open and Emily extended her arms for Alison to step in first. Alison rolled her eyes and stepped in front of Emily. Emily hesitantly pressed the button for the 11th floor and turned to face Alison, who was staring coldly straight ahead at the doors. "Ali, are you ok?"

Alison's gaze remained fixed ahead of her, no emotion showing on her face. "I'm fine, Emily," Alison snapped at her. Emily cringed at the use of her full name. Alison had rarely called her that since they had started dating, usually only using it when she was upset or angry with the brunette. The ding signaled that they had reached their desired floor and Alison exited the elevator as quickly as possible, leaving Emily to let out a sigh before exiting behind her girlfriend. There was only one door in front of them and Emily quickly walked up to it, sliding the key card into the lock and turning the handle once the light flashed green.

Emily's eyes widened when she saw the suite before them. The room was immaculate. Directly in front of them was the living area with a fireplace in the corner and a 65" flat screen TV mounted above. Sitting in front of the fireplace was a black leather couch and a glass coffee table. The floor to ceiling windows offered a beautiful view of downtown Rosewood. To the left was the kitchen, stocked with stainless steel appliances and a marble-topped island. Sitting on the island was an ice bucket and a bottle of sparkling grape juice inside. Sitting next to them were two champagne flutes and a beautiful bouquet of two dozen red roses. Emily wandered to the right into the master suite with a king sized canopy bed with sheer drapes all around. She dropped the bags on the bench at the foot of the bed before making her way into the en suite, noticing the his and hers sinks, the huge double shower head shower stall and Jacuzzi tub. She smiled to herself thinking about how much fun her and Alison could have in this bathroom alone. Her smiled quickly fell when she realized that Alison was still standing in the exact same spot as when they first walked in. She hesitantly walked up to Alison, her face falling further when she saw the scowl across Alison's face.

"Ali, what's wrong?" Emily pleaded. She reached out to grab Alison's hand, but Alison quickly pulled it away.

"You better not _think_ of calling the front desk for _anything_ tonight!" Alison practically yelled at Emily.

Emily look at her girlfriend, still not understanding exactly what was going on. "Ali, I don't understand what you're talk-"

Alison cut her off. "What? You couldn't see how she couldn't keep her eyes off of you? You couldn't see that she was checking you out when you were picking up the bags? That flirtatious smile she kept flashing you?" Alison's face began to flush with anger.

Emily was worried about her getting so worked up at this point in her pregnancy. "Ali, calm down! What are you-"

"I saw how you smiled back at her, too!"

Emily was sick of being interrupted to be yelled at. "Alison Lauren DiLaurentis!" Alison flinched slightly at Emily using her full name. Emily had only used her full first name less than a handful of times, so hearing her use all three names was completely unexpected. Once Emily saw that Alison was done speaking for the moment, she continued. "I don't want her, Ali. There's only one woman I want to be with, and she's standing right in front of me." Emily inched forward, standing about a foot in front of Alison now. Alison was staring intently down at the floor, so Emily slowly reached her hand out and curled a finger under Alison's chin, bringing her eyes to meet her own. What Emily saw broke her heart.

Alison's eyes were filled with tears that were spilling over onto her cheeks. When she saw Emily frown, she shook her head away from Emily's hand and took a step back. "Look at me, Emily! I'm fat and ugly! Why would you want me when you could have some skinny bitch down in the lobby?" Alison didn't sound angry anymore. She sounded hurt, almost broken.

Emily had dealt with Alison's mood swings for months, but none of them had quite escalated to this level before. Emily's heart clenched at Alison's admission. Emily quickly closed the distance between them, grabbing Alison's cheeks with both hands and sweeping her thumbs to dry her tears. Emily was relieved when Alison didn't pull away this time. "Ali, look at me." Alison looked up to make eye contact with Emily. "There is no one in the world who is more beautiful than you are. I look at you every day and I am completely amazed by you. By your strength, by your love, your beauty. Just, by _all_ of you. After what you went through, you could have easily just given up and never let anyone in again. But you didn't. You fought. And you let me love you again and show you how amazing you are." Alison saw nothing but pure love and honesty in Emily's eyes. New tears began spilling over her eyes as what her girlfriend was saying was sinking in. "I wanted this weekend to be completely about you. To show you how much you mean to me. I want you to know that you are beautiful, and when you're with me, I don't see anyone else around us. It's only us, and that's all that matters to me." Emily gave Alison a sad smile. "I'm sorry you thought that I was flirting downstairs. I swear to you, I don't want her. I want you. The woman whose _amazing_ body has been working tirelessly to create a new life. A life that you are willing to share with me. And for that, I fall more in love with you every day."

Alison's tears were spilling faster as her emotions completely took over. She leaned forward and captured Emily's lips in a desperate, needy kiss. Emily could taste the salt from Alison's tears as she pulled her in closer and the blonde's grip on Emily's waist tightened like she was afraid of letting go. When they finally broke apart, Emily whispered, "I'm _never_ going anywhere without you by my side. I promise you."

"I'm sorry," Alison sniffled. "I love you." Alison glanced over at the kitchen island. "The flowers are beautiful, by the way," Alison snorted as she wiped the back of her hand across her checks to dry her face.

Emily smiled. "I love you, too, Ali. So, so much." She leaned forward and pressed her lips softly to Alison's once again. She glanced at the clock on the microwave sitting on the counter. "We have two and half hours until we need to be downstairs, wanna go try out that amazing looking shower?" Emily asked with a smirk on her face.

Alison wiggled her eyebrows at Emily. "Lead the way, sexy."

XXXXX

The weekend had been amazing after Alison's outburst on Friday when they arrived. Emily wanted Alison to feel good about herself after that, so she worshipped her body in the shower until her tension melted away. They then got themselves ready and headed downstairs. They had to walk through the lobby on their way to eat and Alison quickly found the same redhead from earlier staring at them as they walked. However, Alison quickly found Emily's hand work its way from around her waist down to her ass, resting gently as Emily leaned over and pressed a kiss below her ear. "You're all I ever see," she whispered before pulling Alison impossibly close to her body, causing Alison to smile from ear to ear as they walked away from the infuriating redhead behind the desk. Their dinner at the _Radley's_ restaurant was amazing. Neither woman had ever had such perfectly cooked and seasoned food before. Afterwards, they headed back up their their room and held each other as they drifted off to sleep.

Saturday was a rainy, cold day, so they stayed snuggled up on the couch with the fireplace going and watched HGTV all day, commenting on what projects they would like to do in the future and what each would want in a future home they bought together. They ordered room service for breakfast and dinner and honestly didn't leave the hotel room once. It was nice to be able to just relax and not have to worry about anything. They filled the Jacuzzi that night and relaxed while drinking their sparkling grape juice. On Sunday morning, Emily surprised Alison with a pregnancy massage and facial. Alison had protested at first, not wanting to go alone, but Emily finally convinced her to go while she packed their bags and waited for her to return.

Emily had just finished packing their bags and dropped them onto the floor by the door when she heard a knocking.

"Did you forget your-" Emily's eyes bugged out at the blonde standing before her.

"Hey, Em." She smiled shyly, seeing one of her best friends for the first time in 12 years.

Emily wanted to be excited to see Hanna. She had always been closest to Hanna, which was fine because Spencer and Aria seemed to gravitate towards each other. But after what happened with Spencer, Emily wasn't sure what to expect with this sudden visit. She cleared her throat and gave her own weak smile back. "Hanna! What are you doing here?"

"I saw your name when I was going through our reservations and I wanted to see you before you left." Emily could tell that Hanna looked nervous. She looked like she was chewing on the inside of her cheek and she kept shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Wait, I didn't know you were back? You work here?"

"Yeah, New York didn't really work out. The designer was a bitch and when I quit I had trouble finding another position." Hanna dropped her gaze and Emily had a suspicious feeling that there was more to that story. "So I came back here to help my mom design this place."

"You designed this?" Emily asked, completely amazed.

"Yeah, I actually liked it a lot more than fashion design. I think I want to try my hand in interior design for a bit." A small smile began to form on Hanna's face and Emily saw a look of pride flash over her as she talked.

"Well, this place is amazing. I know whatever your next step is, it's going to be amazing." Emily could feel the nerves melting away as the conversation continued. It was only then that Emily realized Hanna was still standing out in the hall. "Sorry, Han, come on in, please."

"Are you sure? I don't want to interrupt anything." Hanna looked nervous again

"Don't be silly, you're never an interruption, Han." Emily smiled and led her inside and they sat down on the couch. "Ali shouldn't be back for another 45 minutes or so."

Hanna dropped her gaze and played with her hands in her lap. Emily sighed as she knew what was coming next from the mention of Alison. It had happened with Aria and it had been even worse with Spencer. Emily went to go open her mouth, but Hanna beat her to the punch. "Look, before you say anything, I just want to say how sorry I am."

Emily's mouth dropped open. She was not expecting that at all. "Sorry? What for?"

"For everything. For not being there for you. For making you go through all that alone. For not reaching out to you when I heard your dad died. Just, I'm sorry about everything, okay?" Hanna's voice broke on several spots during her confession.

Emily could see the unshed tears in Hanna's eyes. "Hanna, where is this all coming from?"

Hanna took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm herself. "I saw Alison downstairs earlier on her way to her massage. She recognized me and stopped me. She apologized for everything that happened between us in high school after you left. I got a little upset and didn't think she was sincere. Then she mentioned you and how we should all be more supportive of you like we weren't in high school. I asked her what she meant and she mentioned that Spencer said some stuff that upset you and she said that you were really hurt by how things played out. And I knew then that she had changed. I could see it in her eyes"

"She really has, Han. She's not the same girl from all those years ago. She had her reasons, but she's so far past that now. I hate the thought of her and my best friends not getting along. Now that we are all back in Rosewood, I had hoped that we could get together, like old times."

"I know. It made me think though that she was right. We weren't there for you and we should have been. I mean, putting the blame solely on Alison isn't fair. We were awful friends to you, and I really am sorry for my part." Hanna reached out and squeezed Emily's hand.

Emily gave Hanna a short smile before frowning. "I played my part in it too. I've moved on though. I'm so happy with Alison and what's about to come in our lives." A smile crept onto Emily's face like it always did talking about Alison.

A smiled worked its way to Hanna's face. "I'm so happy for you, Em. I really am."

"Thanks, Han."

Emily watched Hanna visibly relax next to her, like a weight that she had been burdened with had finally be lifted off her shoulders. "I've really wanted to have this talk for years, honestly, but I just didn't know how to reach out to you and I made excuses for being too busy." Hanna frowned and she realized how much time she had wasted and how much she really had avoided Emily. Her heart ached thinking about how close they used to be. "Do you think we could start over again?" Hanna said with eyes full of hope.

Emily smiled weakly. "I don't want to start over, Han."

Hanna's heart sank. She swallowed hard and dropped her gaze. She wrung her fingers in her lap. "Oh, okay."

Emily placed her hand over Hanna's on her lap. Hanna looked up at her with watery eyes. Emily gave her a sad smile. "I want to pick up right where we left off _before_ that first day of high school."

Hanna choked on a laugh before pulling Emily in for a hug. "Bitch! Don't scare me like that again!"

Both women laughed before embracing one more time. "I should go," Hanna said as she got up from the couch, wiping her face to dry her tears. "The shifts are about to switch over, so I need to brief the oncoming staff and I need to go fix my maekup now!" Hanna gave Emily a playful hip bump on her way back to the door. "Maybe we could grab some coffee sometime soon?"

"I would like that a lot." Emily's cheeks hurt from the smile that had been plastered across her face. She felt good about her life right now. She was in a gorgeous hotel, designed by her best childhood friend, and just had the most amazing, peaceful weekend with her gorgeous girlfriend. She had a job that she loved and she was on good terms with Aria and Hanna. She wished that she could salvage her relationship with Spencer, but after the Brew, she would be okay with never seeing her again. She didn't need negativity at the moment, though. She needed positive people in her life who loved her and supported her.

As she closed the door on Hanna, she turned back to the room and opened up the curtains in the living area. The rain was pouring down on Rosewood at the moment, and didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon. She plopped down on the couch and turned on the television. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen were several severe weather and flash flooding alerts. The only upside was that the temperature was steady around 40 degrees, so she didn't need to worry about any icy spots. She frowned as she looked at the clock. Alison should be on her way back to the room by now. Emily just wanted to get home and stay home. She didn't like the idea of them driving home in this weather, but they both had work the next day.

XXXXX

Emily glanced over at Alison in the passenger seat and found her deep in thought. "You okay?" Emily asked quietly while keeping both eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. The weather was worse out on the road than it had looked from their suite at the _Radley_. Even though it was only midday, the skies were dark and even with the wipers at full speed, Emily was having a hard time seeing the lines on the road.

Alison glanced over at Emily before frowning and looking back to the window, watching the beads of rain pour down the outside of her car. "Yeah, I'll just feel better once we get home and are safe." Alison had an uneasy feeling as they left the hotel. She had even suggested that they stay an extra night, but Emily insisted that they would be able to make it home. It felt like they were in the car a lot longer than they should have been in Alison's eyes. Emily had her flashers on and was being extremely cautious, which Alison appreciated, but she still felt uneasy.

Alison noticed that they were approaching an intersection in downtown Rosewood, the cross street traffic stopped on her side. At that moment, Emily reached her hand across the center console to grab Alison's hand.

"We're gonna be fine, Ali," Emily smiled, still not taking her eyes off the road.

Alison looked up at Emily and that's when she saw them. Headlights from an oncoming car shining in through Emily's window. She heard the blare of car horns. She opened her mouth to speak, but it was too late. The next thing she heard was the horrific sound of metal scraping against metal. She felt a rush push her back into the seat as the airbag deployed, helping to cushion the impact. She felt herself go weightless as she heard metal crunching and glass shattering while her car flipped once. The next thing she knew she was sitting upright in her seat again, the rain pouring into the car through the shattered windshield. She looked down at herself and her baby bump and immediately felt the baby kicking. She let out a sigh of relief as she knew her and the baby were alive. Her relief was short lived, however, when she glanced over into the driver's seat and immediately started yelling for help.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger guys! I was hoping this chapter would be longer, but after writing it, it just felt right to end were I did. Unfortunately it's kind of another cliffhanger, but I'm hoping to get the next chapter out sooner, but the Olympics have been incredibly distracting the past few days! The next one should be longer, lots that still needs to happen! I hope you all enjoy. Please leave your reviews, I love reading them all! Enjoy!**

Alison felt the heavy raindrops soaking her hair and pouring down her face. She couldn't hear any sounds, couldn't see anything other than Emily. She tried to turn in her seat to face her, but her seat belt was too constricting. She reached out her hand and searched for Emily's. When she found it, her screams grew louder as Emily's lifeless hand laid limp in her own. She had no idea how long she was screaming and yelling for, but eventually she was aware of someone at her side, using something to pry her door open. Alison didn't care, her eyes never left Emily's listless, soaking wet body. Emily's forehead was bloodied from a nasty looking gash to her head. She had tiny scrapes and cuts along her face and body where she assumed the shattered glass had cut into her beautiful skin. Alison could see that her right arm was wrapped around her at an awkward angle. She wasn't a doctor, but she was pretty sure her shoulder was dislocated. It looked like the steering wheel had been forced downward and pinned Emily's legs.

Alison began to thrash around when she felt two arms turn her and drag her by the underarms and out of the car. "Emily!" she screamed as red and blue lights began to appear all around. Alison couldn't take her eyes off of her car. It was a mangled mess of metal and cracked plastic right now. They had been thrown across the intersection and up onto the sidewalk. Through the rain, she could see a second car with the front end completely smashed into the front seat. Something about the car looked familiar to Alison, but her mind was so clouded with thoughts of Emily that she didn't have the time nor the desire to figure it out.

She felt arms wrap around her from behind, holding her back while her feet tried to propel her towards the car. She heard a muffled voice from behind her, like she was underwater. The only sounds she could make out were of her own screams calling out for Emily as the firemen worked on extracting her from the wreckage. Tears streamed down her face as she felt herself being dragged _away_ from the car. Suddenly, there was no more rain and she felt itchy wool being wrapped around her shoulders. It was only then that she was aware of how cold she was from the rain. She looked behind her and saw the person who had dragged her in from the rain.

"It'll be okay, you're safe now," the voice was soothing, but it didn't help soothe Alison's fears as she saw Emily's limp body being removed from the car and onto a stretcher. Before she could react, the itchy wool was in a heap on the ground and Alison was back out into the rain.

"Emily!" she cried as she ran as fast as she could towards the stretcher. All she saw was Emily. She didn't notice the officer who had come up to her and placed his hands roughly on her shoulders, stopping her in her path. "Please! Get off of me! I need to see her!"

"Ma'am, I need you to calm down. Were you the other victim in the car?" Alison didn't even bother looking up. She tried to swat his arms away and rush towards Emily's side, but he held his grip firmly. "Ma'am, listen to me!" The officer shouted. "We need to get you looked at, make sure you and the baby are ok." At the mention of the baby, Alison stopped her fight looked at the officer. He was tall with dark hair. Through the rain, she could see the name Calderon on his name tag. He saw Alison looking and met her eyes. "I'm Lorenzo, she's in good hands." He nodded towards the wreckage and Emily being loaded onto the gurney. "Can we get you checked out now?"

Alison was met with concerned eyes. "Please, let me go with her! She can't be alone!"

Lorenzo took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay, let me see what I can do." He quickly walked over to the paramedics. Alison followed closely behind, but couldn't hear what was being said over the pounding rain. She saw both Lorenzo and the paramedic pushing Emily look at her before the paramedic nodded his head. Alison didn't even wait for Lorenzo to come back over to her before she was making her way as quickly as possible to the ambulance. She climbed in after they loaded Emily.

"Sit over there at her head," the paramedic nodded towards the front of the ambulance.

"Is she d-," Alison shook her head and cleared her throat. She couldn't let her mind go there. "Is she alive?" She gently stroked Emily's hair as the paramedics began hooking her up to machines and started an IV line. She let out a breath of relief when she heard the monitor begin to beep, letting Alison know that Emily's heart was still beating.

"She's got a nasty head gash, but it doesn't look that bad. She's definitely dislocated her shoulder. She doesn't seem to have any internal bleeding, but we won't know for sure until we get her to the hospital."

"Why isn't she awake?" Alison gently stroked Emily's cheeks with both of her thumbs as she cradled her head in her hands.

"She must've hit her head pretty hard, she probably has a concussion. How are you feeling?" The paramedic looked back at Alison, pulling out a portable ultrasound machine. Alison gave him an incredulous look. "She's stable, there's not much more to do than wait until we get he to the hospital." He looked down at her stomach. "Let's make sure your baby isn't in any distress."

Alison nodded, her eyes never leaving Emily, as she gently lifted up her shirt some and leaned back, giving the paramedic access to her baby. She flinched as the cold gel hit her skin, but soon all Alison felt was relief at the strong sound of her daughter's heartbeat echoing in the ambulance. At that moment, Emily's lips twitched, almost as if she was trying to smile. Alison quickly leaned down to her head, once again cradling it in her hands while placing a gentle kiss to her forehead, avoiding her open wound. "I'm here, Em. You're going to be fine. I love you. I'm right here. I promise I'm never leaving you."

Just then, they pulled into the ambulance bay of the hospital. The doors to the ambulance flew open and two doctors began pulling Emily out of the ambulance. "24 year old female. M.V.A. B.P. 115/68. Heart rate is 58. Unconscious at scene, some response to stimuli. Dislocated right shoulder, possible tibial fracture." The paramedic started spouting off info on Emily as they headed into the hospital. A third doctor, this one a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties, came and helped Alison out of the ambulance.

"Are you ok? You were the second victim?" The doctor asked, but Alison was barely paying attention.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. They checked my baby in the ambulance, she's fine." Alison watched at Emily was rolled through the doors of the emergency room and away from her. "Please, she's the mother of my child, I need to be with her." Alison looked at the doctor with tears filling her eyes.

The doctor looked at Alison with sympathy in her eyes. She placed her hand around Alison and led her into the hospital. "We need to let the doctors look her over, make sure she doesn't have any internal bleeding, but once that is over, we'll bring her to this bay." The doctor led Alison into a large trauma bay. She patted the bed for Alison to come sit and Alison complied. "In the meantime, I'm going to hook you up to a fetal monitor and just keep an eye on your baby. You were also involved in a serious car crash, we need to keep an eye on you and your baby. Make sure all three of you walk out of here." Alison gave the doctor a small smile while she laid back and allowed the doctor to hook her up to the monitors. The sounds of her daughter's heartbeat helped to soothe her while she waited to hear on Emily's status. Before the doctor left, Alison asked if she could have access to a phone and the doctor returned a few minutes later. "Just press 9 for an outside line."

"Thank you," Alison said before dialing the number she dreaded most.

"Hello?" Pam's voice came through hesitantly.

Alison took in a deep breath. "Pam? It's Alison."

Pam could hear in Alison's voice that something was wrong. "Alison? What's wrong honey? Where are you?"

"There's been an accident. We're at the hospital. Emily's alive, but she's hurt. Please, _we need you_." The tears began to slip down Alison's cheeks once again as her voice broke.

Alison could hear Pam choke back a sob. "I'll be right there, Alison."

With that, Alison hung up the phone before dialing Jason's number. She hung up the phone a few minutes later, after Jason said that he and Aria would be there as soon as possible. She gently placed her head back on her pillow, gently cradling her stomach in her hands. She closed her eyes and did something that she felt like she hadn't done in forever; she prayed. "I know I don't deserve to be heard, but _please_ , let her be ok. She's one of the most amazing women I've ever met in my life. She sees the good in me when so many others don't, including myself. She makes me want to be the woman that she sees. _Please_ , I can't do this without her. She's my world." Her voice was strong at first, ending at just barely above a whisper. She let the floodgates finally open and sobs wracked her body.

She had no idea how long she was crying for, but she eventually felt the bed dip and a pair of arms wrap around her body. She heard Pam's voice cooing softly to her, trying to soothe her running her palm up and down Alison's back and running her other hand through Alison's hair. After a few minutes, her tears subsided and she looked at Pam. Pam gave her a small smile. "How is she?"

"She's getting a CT scan right now. They want to make sure she's not bleeding internally from anywhere, but they think she will be fine." Pam wiped a tear that fell down her cheek.

"Is she awake?" Alison asked with hope in her eyes.

"The doctors said she was semi-conscious, but she was asking about you and the baby. They told her that she would see you soon. They gave her drugs for the pain, so she's been in and out of it."

Alison wrapped her arms around Pam tighter as new tears spilled down her face. Alison heard a light knocking on the door to her bay and broke out of Pam's embrace to see Jason and Aria standing tentatively in the doorway. "I'm going to go get some coffee," Pam said as she began walking to the door. She stopped in front of Aria and gave her a kind smile. "I'm glad you're here for her."

Aria blushed before giving Pam a hug. "I'm always going to be here for her from now on." Pam gave her a genuine smile as she headed out the door towards the cafeteria. Aria walked over to Alison's bed to stand next to Jason. She reached out and grabbed Alison's hand. "How are you feeling? How's the baby?"

Alison smiled and looked down at her bump. "We're ok, Ar. We'll be better, though, once Emily is here." She gave a sad smile as Aria squeezed her hand gently.

"Em's a fighter. She'll be fine." Aria said reassuringly.

"What happened?" Jason asked.

"I don't know. It was raining so hard, I just wanted to get home and be safe. All I saw was headlights next to Emily." A lone tear fell down Alison's cheek as she envisioned the blinding lights before all hell broke loose. "Oh my god! The other driver! Can you find out if they are okay?" Alison looked at Jason with pleading eyes.

Jason placed his hand on Alison's bicep. "I'll go see what I can find out."

Alison gave him a grateful smile. Jason gave Aria a quick peck on the cheek before walking out of the room. Alison and Aria made small talk for a few minutes until Emily was finally pushed through the doors of the E.R. room and wheeled next to Alison. Alison's smile from knowing Emily was with her faltered slightly when she looked at the state of the brunette. Her head was bandaged, blood dried to the side of her head. Her right arm was in a sling and bruises were beginning to form on her face and down her arms. Emily's lower half was covered up, but she could only imagine her lower half looked similar to her top half. Her heart ached for her girlfriend and how delicate she looked. She had and IV coming out of her arm, wires coming out from under her gown and tubes below her nose to help her get oxygen. For a moment, Alison forgot Aria was in the room.

"Ali, Emily is strong. You guys will come out of this ok." Aria's voice shook Alison from her thoughts and she turned her head to look at the small brunette. Her eyes were so full of compassion, it almost made Alison uncomfortable. She wasn't used to people looking at her like that. She gave Aria a weak smile as she turned back to look at Emily. After a few minutes of silence, one of the doctors that took Emily out of the ambulance made his way into the room.

"I'm Dr. Kingston. All of Emily's scans came back clear, so she has no internal injuries. She does have a concussion though, so we need to keep her overnight for observation. She also has some bruised ribs. I've called for an orthopedic consult for her shoulder, as well as her leg. She will probably need surgery for both, but again, that's not my area of expertise. We did give her some meds for her pain, so she will probably be in and out of sleep for the next few hours." Dr. Kingston finished off his spiel with a grin.

"So she will be ok?" Alison asked, her voice full of hope.

"Yes, ultimately, she will be fine." Dr. Kingston excused himself just as Pam made her way back into the room.

"Pam! They said she will be okay!" Alison couldn't help the excitement creeping up into her body. She was so relieved that Emily would be fine, though she still worried that something may go wrong at some point, but she tried to keep those thoughts at bay. _The worst is behind us, now,_ she told herself.

"I heard. I told you she was a fighter." Pam walked over and sat down on the bed next to Emily, holding her hand gently in her own.

Just then, Jason stepped back into the room. He had a somber look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Alison asked.

"I just talked to the officer that brought you in. He said it was a drunk driver, ran the red light and hit you guys." Jason said while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Did they make it?" Alison asked hesitantly.

"Um, no. They said his he went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. They couldn't bring him back."

Alison's hand flew to her lips as her mouth gaped open. "Oh my…" she whispered. Her mind flashed back to the scene of the accident. The car a mangled mess in the street. There was still something about the car, but Alison couldn't put her finger on it. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"He- he's dead?" The small voice shocked everyone in the room. Emily's eye fluttered open as she looked around the room. Alison sat up slightly and reached over to grab Emily's hand.

Pam was the first to speak. "How are you feeling, Emmy?"

"I-I'm okay. I feel like I was hit by a truck," Emily joked, trying to lighten the mood. Her voice was raspy and felt dry as she licked her lips.

Aria was the first to notice and gave a slight chuckle at Emily's joke before going and getting some water for the brunette.

Jason gave a small laugh before joking back. "I heard it was a cross over, not a truck."

Emily gave a small laugh before wincing in pain.

Alison furrowed her brow in worry. "Are you in pain?"

"No," Emily said weakly. "Just don't make me laugh," she said with a weak smile.

Alison gave her a pointed look. "Then don't try to be a comedian!"

Emily looked around and saw Aria come back into the room with a small pitcher of water along with a Styrofoam cup and a straw. She poured Emily a glass before holding the straw up to her lips. Once Emily took a few sips, she spoke again, her voice a little less raspy. "He's dead, isn't he?"

They all looked at each other, before Alison finally spoke up. "Yeah, Em. The other driver is dead. He was drunk, ran the red light. It wasn't your fault."

Emily's eyes slowly began to droop as the meds took their effect on her again. She mumbled as she drifted off. "I was getting sick of him…" Emily's voice was barely above a whisper, but Alison heard. _What was she talking about?_ Alison thought to herself. After another 20 minutes or so, Jason, Aria and Pam decided they would leave Emily and Alison to rest. Alison offered Jason and Aria their guestroom for the night, so they didn't have to drive back to Philly so late. They gratefully accepted and made their way out of the hospital. Pam then said her goodbyes to both girls and with that, Alison was left alone with her thoughts while Emily slept peacefully next to her.

XXXXX

Dr. Kingston re-entering the room woke Alison from her light slumber. "How're our patients?" Dr. Kingston asked. Another doctor followed in behind him.

"We're good," Alison said, indicating her and the baby. She looked over at Emily, her face showing her nerves that Emily was still asleep. "She did wake up for a few minutes, but has been asleep ever since."

"That's completely normal. It's been about 4 hours since her last dosage, so she should be waking up in the next hour or so." Dr. Kingston walked over to Emily's monitors, checking on her vitals. "Her concussion is going to make her groggy, but honestly, sleep is the best thing for her recovery."

Alison looked over at the other doctor. "I'm Dr. White with OB. I'm just here to check on you and your baby." Alison gave him a small smile before he checked on the baby monitors wrapped around her stomach. After a few minutes, he spoke up again. "Well, Alison. It looks like you and the baby are very lucky. It doesn't seem like either one of you took any major damage. It's a miracle, really." Alison thought on that for a second. With everything going on with Emily, she hadn't stopped to think about how she had walked away without anything more than a scratch. _How was that even possible?_ "Well, I don't see why we would need to keep you overnight, so I'll go tell a nurse to get started on the discharge paperwork."

Alison's eyes went wide. She couldn't leave Emily. "Please, she can't wake up alone." Alison's voice was desperate, begging. Her eyes never left Emily.

Dr. White looked from Alison to Dr. Kingston. Dr. Kingston gave him a small nod before going back to checking Emily's vitals. "Actually, I noticed the baby's heart rate is a little lower than it should be, but I'm sure it nothing." Alison's head snapped towards the doctor. "We're going to keep you overnight for observation, too. Just to be on the safe side," Dr. White said with a wink and Alison's face lit up with gratitude.

"Thank you, so much!" A lone tear escaped Alison's eye. Dr. White nodded towards her as he walked out.

Dr. Kingston turned to Alison. "I'm pleased with her progress. Someone will be down shortly to take you both to a room. I'm sure we can find one to fit both of you." Dr. Kingston left and about 20 minutes later, an orderly came and took Alison to a room, returning shortly after with Emily in tow. Alison breathed a sigh of relief when Emily was finally wheeled in, still sleeping. Alison asked the orderly if she could speak with the nurse in charge of their room. Once the nurse came in, Alison cleared her throat. "Is there any way that we could take these fetal monitors off? I'd like to be able to walk around if possible. I've been in this bed all day and my bladder is screaming right now."

The head nurse just chuckled. "Of course! They were supposed to take these off before you came up!" The nurse walked over and unhooked Alison from the machine. As soon as she could, Alison was on her feet on the way to the bathroom to relieve herself. "I'm Lacy, by the way, if you need anything else!"

"Thank you!" Alison called out from behind the closed door. As she was washing her hands, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was matted down from the rain. She ran her fingers through it and found a couple pieces of shattered glass, but couldn't see any blood in her hair if her scalp was cut at all. She noticed a small scrape on her left cheek, but nothing other than that. She really did wonder how she walked away with nothing after all of that. Once she was done, she walked back into the room and saw Emily was awake, her face scrunched in confusion. "Hey, baby," she said softly as she padded over to Emily's bed and sat down gently on the side. Alison reached out and grabbed Emily's hand, placing her other hand on Emily's cheek and brushing lightly with her thumb. Emily's eyes immediately closed and she leaned into Alison's touch.

"How are you feeling? Are you in pain?" Alison asked, concerned.

"No, I'm ok. I'm just sore. Wh-What happened?" Emily asked hesitantly.

Alison furrowed her brows momentarily in concern. She wasn't sure if Emily was just confused because she was groggy from the pain meds, or if it was her head injury. "We were in an accident, Em. Do you remember anything?"

Emily closed her eyes and a look of pain washed over her face. She took a breath and opened her eyes back up. "I remember leaving the hotel. And it was raining so hard."

Alison smiled sadly at her girlfriend, looking nothing like the woman she came to love, laying there in the hospital bed. Anger at the situation began to rise inside of her, but she quickly pushed it back down. "Yeah, do you remember anything else?"

Before Emily could answer, Lacy came back in pushing a portable cart. She gave Emily a kind smile as she saw that Emily was awake. "Glad to see you're awake! How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok," Emily said weakly.

Lacy pointed to a chart over on the wall across from Emily's bed. "Can you give me a number on your pain using that pain scale over there?" Lacy said as she pulled out a blood pressure cuff and strapped it to Emily's arm.

Emily lifted her head and squinted at the different emoji-looking faces on the wall. "I'm more than a six, but not quite an eight, so I guess a seven?"

"Ok, we like to keep you a little more comfortable than that, so I'm going to give you more meds for your pain. All you other vitals look good." Lacy smiled kindly as she typed into the computer and a drawer popped open. She reached in and grabbed the pill bottle, scanning it with the gun before scanning Emily's bracelet. She then took out one pill and gave it to Emily, who swallowed it with a sip of water from the straw Alison had placed at her lips. Lacy then turned to Alison. "How are mom and baby feeling?" she asked with a smile.

"We're good, thank you."

"Are you guys hungry?" Alison nodded her head. She hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning. With the whirlwind of everything, food was the last thing on her mind, but now that everything had calmed down and Emily was relatively okay, she realized how hungry she was. "Ok, dinner still goes for another 10 minutes. Here's a menu, let me know what you want and I'll put it in for you. I'll throw in some broth and jello for her, too," Lacy nodded towards Emily. After Alison scanned the menu and put in her order, Lacy scurried back out of the room as Alison said her thanks.

She turned back to Emily and noticed she looked more relaxed after taking the pain meds. _Those work fast,_ Alison thought to herself. She reached and grabbed Emily's hand. "Anything else you remember, baby?"

Emily nodded her head lightly. "I remember telling you we were going to be ok. And then bright lights and I saw _him_. Then it all went black after that." Emily closed her eyes and rested her head back against the pillow.

Alison's face flashed with surprise. This was the second time Emily referred to a _him_ with the accident. "You saw who, Em?"

Emily swallowed hard. Alison could tell she was fighting sleep, but the meds were quickly taking over. "Elliott," Emily whispered before drifting back off to sleep.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Happy Friday everyone! I'm back with another update before the weekend. Once again, thank you all for the reviews and favorites/follows. I love reading that you guys are enjoying this. I've been having a blast writing it. We have a little bit more drama to go before things settle for these two a little bit. Ya know, before all hell breaks loose with a newborn! As of right now, I have 3-4 chapters left, but that may change. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for reading!**

Alison sat on the edge of Emily's bed completely lost in her thoughts when Lacy brought Alison's dinner into the room. Alison sat in the chair, mindlessly eating while going over Emily's words in her mind. _"I was getting sick of him…" "Elliott"._ Was that what was bothering her about the car? Elliott did seem to be spiraling out of control lately. She knew that he liked to drink, but she never knew him to get behind the wheel afterwards. But then again, she was usually always in control and ended up driving his drunk ass home. Alison tried to shake those thoughts away as she finished up her dinner. She would try to call down to the station tomorrow to see what else she could learn from the accident.

Once she was finished up, Lacy came back in to collect her tray, leaving the broth and jello in case Emily woke up later and wanted a little something to eat. "Lacy," Alison called out before Lacy was completely gone. "Would it be possible to push the beds together?" Lacy gave her a questioning look. Alison sighed as she continued. "I need to be close to her tonight. I won't be able to sleep away from her." Alison's eyes locked on to Emily's sleeping form.

She turned her head as she felt Lacy's hand on her shoulder. "Don't tell anyone I did this for you. It's completely against policy. But I'm here all night, so as long as we separate you before the morning shift comes in, we'll be good." Lacy walked over to Alison's bed and unlocked the wheels, before pushing it over next to Emily's bed and locking the wheels back up.

Alison looked up and gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you, so much."

"You're welcome. Are you guys good here?" Lacy asked, adjusting the curtains to give the two women a little extra privacy.

Alison smiled. "Yeah, I think we're good."

"Good. Get some rest. Just push the button if she wakes up and needs something for the pain. I'll try not to bother you other than getting her vitals if she wakes up."

"Thank you, again, Lacy. I really do appreciate it."

Lacy nodded as she walked out of the room. Alison glanced up at the clock. Eight o'clock. Alison let out a long sigh before getting up out of the chair and using the bathroom one last time before climbing into the bed next to Emily. She laid on her side, snuggled up as close to the edge as she dared, reaching across and taking Emily's hand in her own. It wasn't ideal, but there was no way that both of them would fit into the same bed, not with Emily's injures or Alison's stomach that seems to grow bigger by the day. But just _feeling_ Emily near her was enough to settle her into a deep slumber.

XXXXX

Emily only woke up once in the night needing more pain meds. She refused the broth and jello before drifting back to sleep. Alison stayed up for about a half hour, just watching Emily sleep while she gently stroked her cheek. Eventually, Alison woke up to the sounds of the curtain being drawn back, allowing extra light into their make-shift bedroom. Alison blinked a few times before Lacy came into view. "I'm about to head out for the day. We need to get these beds back where they belong." Alison nodded as she climbed out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom. She noticed that she had circles forming under her eyes and she needed a shower badly, but she didn't look any worse for wear considering the hell she endured the day before.

As she made her way back into the room, she noticed that Lacy had her bed back across the room and had changed the sheets for her. She also saw that one of the chairs was pushed up next to her girlfriend's bed. She smiled at Lacy one final time. "Really, thank you for everything. I don't know how to thank you."

Lacy smiled back. "Really, I'm just doing my job. No need for thanks."

Alison nodded one last time as Lacy walked out of the room. Alison made her way over to the chair and sat down next to Emily, holding her hand firmly in her own. Alison was in and out of sleep in the chair when she heard a knock on the door a couple of hours later. She cleared her throat and sat up straight, before calling out softly, "come in."

Alison's jaw dropped when she saw the tall brunette walk through the door. "Spencer? What are you doing here?"

Spencer walked further into the room, her face dropping when she saw Emily laying in the hospital bed. While the doctors said she was doing better, they hadn't removed any of the equipment yet, so she still had IVs and wires seemingly coming out of everywhere. "I heard about the accident, I wanted to make sure she was okay."

Alison's face softened, slightly. "Yeah, she will be fine. She's pretty beat up, but she's strong."

"Yeah, she is," Spencer confirmed. "Look…"

"No." Alison put her hand up to stop Spencer's words. She didn't want to hear what Spencer had to say. She just remembered the look of complete distraught on Emily's face. The look of heartbreak over her former best friend hurting her so badly with her words. "I don't know if it's a good idea if you are here when she wakes up." Spencer's mouth flew open, beginning to defend herself. "Do you know how much you hurt her that day?" Alison glared at Spencer.

"I-I"

"Do you know that I held her for forty-five minutes while she cried into my arms?" Alison got up out of the chair and started to advance into Spencer's space.

Spencer could feel her defenses shooting up as Alison came closer. "Don't act like you're so innocent! _You_ were the total _bitch_ in high school, not me! _You_ were the cause of all her issues!"

Alison took a deep breath, their voices were beginning to rise and no one needed to hear their shouting. "You're right. But I've accepted that and _moved on_! I understand how horrible of a person I was. And I look at her every day and wonder why the hell she would even want to be with me. But every day, I try to be the person that she sees in me. She makes me want to be a better person. I know I was never a saint, but at least I can admit that! You still don't see that you did anything wrong!" Alison's voice rose at the end, her anger getting the better of her. She was so mad at Spencer for hurting Emily. She never wanted Emily to feel any pain, whether it was emotion or physical. And right now, it killed her to know that she couldn't take her physical pain away. She wanted to protect Emily from any emotional pain that she might endure from Spencer being there when she woke up.

Spencer looked taken aback at Alison's words. Something flashed in her eyes that Alison couldn't quite recognize. "You're lucky that Toby never went to the cops about what he saw!"

Alison squinted her eyes and stood on her toes to get into Spencer's face. "I may not be the same person I was in high school, but you'd better believe that I will do _everything_ in my power to protect my family and the ones that I love."

"One day, she's going to wake up and see who you really are. And she's going to realize that she was _way_ too good for you." Spencer's voice was low.

"Spencer?" Both women snapped their heads around, looking at Emily with wide eyes. Alison rushed over to her side, taking her hand in her own. Emily's eyes never left Spencer. "Wh-what are you doing here?" Emily looked confused as she looked away from Spencer, to her hand interlocked with her girlfriend's, up to Alison's face. "And what did Toby see?"

Alison felt all the blood drain from her face. Emily's eyes held no emotion that she could see. She knew that Emily had the biggest heart of anyone she'd ever met and never held her past against her, but this one was huge, even if it was an accident.

"Maybe I should get going." Spencer was slowly backing out of the room, the tension between the three of them becoming incredibly awkward and too much to take.

"No, stay." Emily's voice was firm. "Whatever you two have between you, needs to be addressed if we are ever going to be friends again. If you even want that, because I do." Her eyes flicked towards Spencer before landing on Alison once again.

Alison took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, trying to hold her tears at bay. She took a firmer hold of Emily's hand and her heart fluttered when Emily didn't pull away. She couldn't look at Emily when she told her this one thing, so her eyes stayed trained on the ceiling while Spencer stood awkwardly in the corner of the room. "It was the summer after freshman year. I found what I thought was a firecracker snooping through Jason's room one day. I guess people would have said Jenna and I were friends, but we were more like frenemies. I went to her house one day so she could entertain me, and when she didn't answer the door, I went back to check her garage 'cause she had a nice little set up out there. I peeked in the window and saw her and her stepbrother kissing. I thought it would be funny to scare them a little bit, so I lit the firecracker and threw it into the garage with the two of them. But it wasn't a firecracker. It was so much worse." Alison slowly dropped her head to meet Emily's stare. "I swear, Em, I didn't mean to hurt her." The threatening tears made their way quickly down Alison's cheeks and gathered at her jaw line before crashing onto the bedding.

Emily's heart broke at the sight of her girlfriend's eyes. They were filled with remorse. Emily could see Alison's heart breaking in her admission. She squeezed Alison's hand harder and Alison hiccupped before more tears spilled down her face, realizing that Emily didn't hate her. "What does that have to do with this Toby guy, though?"

Alison sniffled and wiped her eyes with her hands. "Toby was Jenna's step brother. After I lit the firework, I didn't really look, I just threw it in and ran. I guess Toby was on his way out and saw me. He stopped me to confront me, but then the garage went up in flames. Toby ran back in to save Jenna, but there was damage to her eyes and she's blind now. As Toby was carrying her out, I panicked. I was so afraid of what my dad would do if he found out. So I threatened to tell everyone I saw them kissing if he told anyone I did it." Emily reached up and brushed away the tears almost as fast as they fell on Alison's cheeks, causing Alison to drop her head into her hand and completely break down into Emily's lap. Alison continued to speak through broken sobs. "My dad… he would've killed me. He used to… hit me where I could cover it… but I was afraid at what he would've done to me."

Emily rubbed her hands up and down Alison's back, cooing her and trying to soothe her heavy sobs. Emily still had more questions, however. "Spencer, what does this have to do with you, exactly?"

Spencer continued to stand awkwardly, her face softening at Alison's confession and obvious distress. She realized that Alison did feel bad about everything and had been carrying an awfully heavy burden for such a young girl in high school. She began to think that Emily was right and that Alison had her reasons for being the way she was, even if it wasn't necessarily right. From the way Alison broke down, she really did believe it was an accident and that Alison had a much darker life that she kept hidden from everyone. She took a deep breath. "Toby and I dated for a while around that time. He didn't return any of Jenna's feelings. He had pushed her off of him and was storming out of the garage that day." She looked pointedly at Alison. "But Toby didn't deserve _any_ of that."

Alison's sobs became harsher in Emily's lap. Emily straightened up and looked at Spencer, her gaze stone cold. "And _I_ didn't deserve for my friends to completely abandon me when I needed them most!"

At that, Spencer visibly shrunk back. It finally hit her that both Emily and Alison were right. She _wasn't_ there for Emily in high school. She got so caught up in making her college applications look as good as possible with extracurricular activities that she didn't see anyone else in her life but herself. "You're right, Em. I'm sorry. For everything. I was caught up in my own life that I didn't _want_ to see your struggles. I can see how much you love her. Feel better, Em." With that, Spencer turned and began walking out of the room.

"I really am sorry, Spencer," Alison hiccupped before Spencer left.

Spencer gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know, me too" she said as she headed out the door.

After a few moments of silence, Alison looked up at Emily, who was still trying to soothe her, but looked like she was deep in thought. "I'm sorry," she said weakly as she tried to compose herself. Emily looked at her expectedly, looking for more from the blonde. Alison took a breath to fight off another sob. "I shouldn't have spoken to Spencer like that. I just hated that she hurt you with her words. Things just escalated so quickly, and then we woke you up. Do you hate me for what I did to Jenna?"

Emily looked into Alison's pleading eyes. She took a deep breath and released it. "No, I don't hate you. I may not be happy with it, but I know that's not you anymore. I love you too much."

Alison smiled weakly. "God, I don't deserve you, but I love you, too." Alison hesitantly reached forward and connected their lips in a desperate kiss. Emily could taste the salt of Alison's tears on her lips and she hated that her girlfriend was in so much pain.

A voice clearing in the room broke them apart and Alison quickly climbed off the bed. "Sorry to interrupt. My name's Dr. Jones and I'm an orthopedic surgeon here at the hospital. I was called for a consult on your injuries. You must be Emily Fields?" The doctor said as he approached Emily's bed with his hand extended. She reached up and shook his hand with her left.

Alison extended her hand. "I'm Alison, her girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you both. Emily, I've been looking over your scans, and it looks like the injury to your leg isn't as bad as we initially thought. You just have some deep bone bruising, but nothing all that serious. It will hurt to walk for a little bit, but you should make a full recovery without any complications." He smiled at both women before continuing. "Your shoulder, on the other hand is another story. You tore two of the tendons of your rotator cuff, which we are going to have to go in and repair arthroscopically."

Emily closed her eyes and nodded. "When do we need to take care of that?"

The doctor glanced down at Alison's stomach before looking back to Emily. "Well, you're going to be in an immobilizer for 6 weeks before you can really start using it again. And I'm assuming that you are going to have your hands full in the next couple of months, so my suggestion would be to have the surgery before they discharge you from the hospital."

"What if I decided to wait until the baby was bigger? Maybe a year or so?"

"You can wait, but your range of motion will steadily decline over time because your shoulder won't be as stable. You also run the risk of having arthritic changes because of the altered biomechanics of the joint. As I said, the sooner we repair it, the better your results are going to be."

"Okay," Emily breathed out. She looked over at Alison who gave her a small nod. "Let's do it now, then. We still have about 9 weeks until the due date."

"Great! I actually have an opening later on this afternoon. I'll get the paperwork started. It is an outpatient procedure, so you'll be able to go home afterwards."

"Thank you," Emily said as Dr. Jones headed out of the room. "Come here." Emily stretched her hand out towards Alison and pouted out her bottom lip. Alison rolled her eyes, but took Emily's hand as she allowed the brunette to pull her towards the bed. She pulled Alison close so that their foreheads were touching. "I love you, okay?" Alison closed her eyes and nodded against Emily's forehead. "Nothing is ever changing that. I'm sorry that Spencer upset you."

"I'm sorry that I fought with her."

"You protected me. And nothing is sexier than a blonde who protects her family," Emily said with a sly smirk.

Alison squinted her eyes at Emily. "Oh yeah? You should see what I can do without a beach ball in the front!" Alison quickly leaned in and gave Emily another kiss, this one lasting much longer as their lips danced together. The kiss deepened and soon Alison found herself climbing up onto Emily's hospital bed, gently laying down at Emily's side, taking care not to aggravate her bruised ribs. Once they broke apart for air, Alison looked up at Emily and stroked her cheek. "I haven't really had a chance to ask how you are feeling today?"

"No, it's been quite eventful for only being 9:30 in the morning!" Emily laughed and immediately regretted it. Her face contorted in pain and Alison sat up, thinking she was hurting the brunette. Emily quickly pulled her back down. "No, you stay. I just need to remember not to be a _comedian_." Both women smirked at the comment. Emily took a sharp breath in. "I just need something to take the edge off. And maybe some food. I'm hungry."

Alison smiled. "Ok, well let me get the nurse in here so she can give you some meds and get you some breakfast. I don't know what they will or won't let you eat if you are having surgery later, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?" Alison hit the call button for the nurse. This nurse was definitely not as nice as Lacy and scolded Alison for being on the bed with Emily. Alison ordered breakfast for them and they continued to talk throughout the day, waiting for Emily's surgery. At around noon, the nurse came in with Emily's discharge paperwork and informed them that once she was taken into surgery, Alison had to pack up whatever they had in the room and wait for Emily in the ambulatory surgery section of the hospital and Emily could leave from there. Once they had a better idea of what was going on, Emily called Pam to see if she would be able to wait with Alison and then drive them home afterwards.

Once Emily had all the paperwork filled out, all that was left to do was wait. There was an odd silence in the air between Alison and Emily, both completely lost in their own thoughts. Alison wanted to ask Emily about her mentioning Elliott, but it had been an emotional day and she didn't really want to delve into another serious conversation until _after_ Emily's surgery. Emily's head was swimming with thoughts of how incredibly upside down her life had turned in the last twenty-four hours. She had just spent the most amazing weekend with her girlfriend, and now she was sitting in a hospital bed awaiting surgery. She didn't understand how she had sustained the brunt of the injuries and how Alison had literally only a few scrapes and cuts. Not that she was complaining, it just baffled her mind. She wondered what the car looked like and the thought made her shiver, so she shook it away.

Once Alison pushed the thoughts of Emily's words about Elliott out of her head, her thoughts wandered to how little she had been hurt during the accident. Alison wasn't a very religious person, but she truly believed she had a guardian angel looking out for her the previous day. She thought that maybe that was why she had such an uneasy feeling before the left the hotel. But it didn't matter, she was going to be forever grateful for whatever or _whoever_ was looking over her and her baby.

After a few more moments of quiet, the orderly came in with a wheelchair to take Emily to the ambulatory surgery section of the hospital. Alison quickly gave Emily a goodbye kiss and watched as Emily was wheeled out of the room, hating that for the second time in 24 hours, she was going to be separated from her brunette in this hospital. Alison quickly gathered her things, making sure to double check they didn't leave anything, and then headed towards the main entrance of the hospital to meet Pam. After depositing everything in Pam's car, both women headed to the waiting room to wait for Emily.

As Alison was waiting for an update on Emily, she felt the weight of the past 24-plus hours come crashing down onto her. She knew the procedure would take about an hour and a half, not including Emily's recovery from the anesthesia, so she tried to get as comfortable as possible. Surprisingly, her eyelids slowly closed and she feel into a restless sleep. Pieces of the car crash flitted behind her eyelids as she slept. The lights. The sounds of metal grinding on metal. The feeling of weightlessness as the car was flipping. Then, as if materializing out of midair, was her mother, gently cradling her in her arms, protecting her, keeping her and her baby safe. She felt a sense of warmth wash through her body and she didn't notice the cold rain pelting her skin. Once they were done moving, her mother gave her a kiss to the temple before whispering in her ear.

Alison's eyes shot open as she was brought out of her dream. She was disoriented at first, but after a few seconds, noticed Pam sitting next to her reading a magazine. She had no idea how long she had been asleep for, but she couldn't shake the feeling and warmth of being wrapped in her mother's arms. Her skin broke out in goosebumps and she shook her head and stood up, suddenly feeling like she needed to move around.

"Are you okay, hunnie?" Pam asked, seeing Alison's suddenly get up.

"Hmmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine, just needed to move around." Alison gave her a polite smile.

"She's going to be okay. She's a fighter. Always has been."

Alison smiled. "I know."

Just then, the doctor came out and told them that they successfully repaired Emily's rotator cuff and that she was in the recovery room. He also told them they could go back and see her. Alison didn't hesitate in walking back to the recovery room to go see her brunette.

XXXXX

Two and a half hours later, Emily was settled on the couch as Alison saw Pam out. "Thank you, again, for everything." Alison said as she pulled Pam into a hug.

Pam gave her a kind smile. "If there is anything you girls need, please call me."

"I will," Alison waved as she closed the door and headed back into the living room. She leaned against the doorframe and took a second to just look at her girl. She was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia, but otherwise looked much better than the previous day. The color had returned to her face and she was much less confused about everything. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" Alison pushed herself off the doorframe and walked towards Emily.

Emily looked up and met her eyes. She reached out with her good arm. "I just need you right now." Emily pouted out her bottom lip and batted her puppy dog eyes at Alison. Alison chuckled knowing what Emily was doing. She knew that look was impossible to say 'no' to.

Alison slid in next to Emily on the couch, getting comfortable on Emily's good side and laying her head gently on her shoulder. Emily sighed in contentment as she placed her nose into Alison's hair and just inhaled the scent of her girlfriend. She softly ran her fingers through Alison's golden hair as Alison hummed in response. "I think I have a name," Alison said after a few minutes.

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?" She continued combing her fingers through Alison's hair.

"Jessica," Alison said almost at a whisper.

A smile spread across Emily's face. "Jessica. Like your mom?"

Alison spoke softly. "Yeah. I think she was there, keeping us safe." Instinctively, her free hand fell to her stomach, gently rubbing circles around her baby.

"I think so, too, baby." Emily squeezed Alison tighter with her good arm, ignoring the discomfort that the motion was giving her in her newly repaired shoulder. She didn't care, though. She wanted Alison to feel safe in that moment, wanted Alison to feel all the love Emily had for her. "You know, I had a dream about her."

Alison looked up at Emily, her eyes wide in shock. "You did?" Emily nodded her head in response. "When?"

"When I was in surgery. I know I never met her, but I know it was her. She told me to take care of both of you. She said that you would need me more than ever."

Alison scrunched her face up in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know. But I haven't been able to get that dream out of my head since I woke up. Her words keep playing in my head. It's weird."

A tear slipped down Alison's cheek and her skin broke out in goosebumps. The fact that both her _and_ Emily had a dream about her mom at the same time made her hair stand on end. "So Jessica it is?"

Emily nodded. "Jessica Lauren?" she raised an eyebrow as a smirk crossed her face.

Alison groaned as she buried her face in Emily's shoulder. She always hated her middle name and wasn't about to give it to her daughter. "No!" She said shaking her head.

Emily just laughed as she knew that Alison would hate the name and that would be her reaction. Once the laughter died down, Alison looked up at Emily with love-filled eyes. "I love you," Alison said with conviction.

"I love you, too," Emily said as she kissed the tip of Alison's nose.

XXXXX

Both women were startled awake by the sound of the doorbell. Alison looked at the clock. It was a little after six in the evening. She didn't realize they had both dozed off. "I wonder who that could be," Alison mumbled to herself as she made her way to the front door. She peeked out of the window and noticed a police officer standing on the other side. She flicked the porch light on and opened the front door.

Emily tried her best to hear who was standing at the other side of the door. She could make out that it was a man's voice, but she couldn't see who it was from her angle. She tried to get up, but she was still woozy from her surgery and her shoulder was beginning to ache pretty badly. She would need Alison to get her one of her pain meds when she came back. After a minute or so, Emily gave up on trying to hear the conversation. She would just have to ask Alison once she came back in.

"Ali?" The front door had closed about a half minute ago, but Alison never returned to the living room. "Babe?" Emily called out again. Still no answer. Emily began to worry as she swung her feet down to the floor and sat upright on the couch. She slowly lifted herself up, taking a minute to get her bearings as she had basically been laying down for the past day and a half. Once she was steady, she headed towards the foyer and worry washed over her as she saw Alison with her back against the door and her knees drawn up to her chest.

Emily hurried over and kneeled down in front of her girlfriend. She took her good hand and rested it on Alison's knee. "Baby, what's wrong?" Emily asked softly.

Alison slowly raised her head to meet Emily's gaze. Alison's face was flushed and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. Her voice was broken when she spoke. "The driver… it was… Elliott."


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Schools were off for February break last week, and for the first time in 8 years didn't need to work during this break, so I spent the week doing fun mommy/daughter stuff and a few projects around the house. But, I was able to write this chapter yesterday and then edit it today. I have to say, it is very angst-y and drama filled. Once again, thank you to all those who are reading and enjoying. Please, let me know what you think, I love to hear from you guys! Enjoy!**

It had been almost two hours, and Alison had still not spoken since Emily had found her slumped on the floor of the foyer. She hadn't even moved off of the floor yet. She had a distant, vacant look in her eye and continued to stare at the same spot in front of her on the floor. When Emily had first found her, Alison had crumbled into Emily's embrace. After about a half hour, Alison's tears had stopped, but her expression was completely unreadable. So, Emily sat next to her, with her good arm wrapped securely around the blonde's waist, waiting until Alison was ready to get up off the floor. That was two excruciatingly long hours ago. Emily had only left her side once to go get her pain meds once she couldn't take it anymore. She had run to the kitchen quickly, and when she came back, she had found Alison in the same spot, head buried into her hands as her body shook with sobs. Her heart was breaking for her girlfriend, but she wasn't quite sure what _exactly_ she was upset over.

Her mind began to race as the minutes went on and Alison still wouldn't talk or even _look_ at her. _Was she upset at the realization that she would never see Elliott again? Did she still_ love _Elliott? Was she regretting everything that had happened with Emily now that Elliott was truly gone? Did she blame Emily for taking Elliott away from her and her baby?_ Emily had to fight back the lump that had formed in her throat at the offensive thoughts. "Ali…" Emily said as she turned her head into Alison's golden locks and gave her a small kiss to the side of her head. Alison didn't move. Emily unwrapped her arm from Alison's waist and moved around so she was facing the blonde and ducked her head to make eye contact. Once Alison was forced to look at her, Emily could see a great deal of anger, self-loathing and regret swirling in those blue orbs. It was almost as if Alison was looking right through Emily. "Baby…" Emily tried again, reaching out to grab Alison's hand, but feeling rejected when Alison quickly pulled it away. Emily quickly turned away, unable to continue to look at the intense emotions in Alison's eyes. Emily just wanted to go back to Sunday morning and listen to Alison when she said that they should have stayed until the weather cleared some. Maybe they could have avoided all this. Now, Emily had no clue what to think. _How could one of the best weekends have been followed by two of the worst days she'd experienced since her dad passed away?_ She bit her bottom lip to stop its trembling and willed the tears that were gathering in her eyes to not fall. She took in a deep breath to steady herself before turning back to her girlfriend. _Girlfriend_. Was she even that anymore? Alison had never left her side in the hospital, but now the way she looked at Emily made Emily feel like it was completely her fault. A single tear slid down Emily's cheek and she quickly wiped it from her jawline. She looked at Alison and noticed that for just a second, Alison's face completely softened once she saw Emily's lone tear, before quickly turning her expression cold once more. "Let me help you to bed?"

Alison didn't respond, but instead reached up and grabbed Emily's hand as Emily stood to help the blonde off the ground. Being on the floor for so long had caused Alison's joints to stiffen, especially her hips, but she slowly made her towards the stairs and up to the bedroom. Once inside, Alison released Emily's hand. Emily looked at her hand and frowned, a sense of dread filling her as Alison walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Emily's head dropped back on her shoulders and once again, she willed her tears to stay at bay. Emily heard the toilet flush and the water run before Alison emerged from the bathroom and headed into the walk in closet to change into pajamas. She walked out in an oversized night shirt and a pair of athletic shorts and climbed straight into bed. Emily walked up next to the bed and crouched down. Alison still didn't make eye contact with the brunette. "I'm going to sleep in the guest bedroom tonight," Emily began. A look of confusion flashed across Alison's face as Emily continued. "Let me know if you need anything."

Emily turned to leave, but was stopped when she felt warm fingers wrap around her wrist. "Stay." Alison's voice was hoarse from non-use and barely above a whisper. She continued to avoid all eye contact with the brunette, but Emily saw it as a good sign that at least Alison _wanted_ her there, not that it eased Emily's fears much.

Emily quietly walked over to the other side of the bed and after a small struggle, removed her pants before climbing into bed. Because of her shoulder, her doctor recommended that she sleep inclined, so she began propping pillows behind her, which was a struggle with only one good arm. She looked over at Alison who hadn't even moved from her position with her back towards Emily facing the door. Emily just sighed as she continued to struggle until eventually she was reclined enough to relax. After about an hour, her pain meds kicked in and she was able to catch a few hours of sleep, but when the pain woke her up again around 2 a.m., she quietly slipped out of bed to head downstairs. She rounded the bed and looked at Alison. Her eyes were closed, but she couldn't tell if she was asleep or not. She let out a deep breath and made her way downstairs. She took a pain pill and washed it down with some water. She leaned against the doorway and stared out at the couch. She bit her lower lip, debating if she should just make herself comfortable and not even bother going back upstairs. But then she remembered the _one_ thing Alison had told her: _stay_. Alison _wanted_ her upstairs in their bed, even though she wasn't showing it. Emily knew that Alison was clearly struggling, but she wished that Alison would open up to her and let her in. She thought that they had come farther than this. She hoped that they could work this out. She had become so invested in a life with Alison and the new baby. She didn't know how she would survive without them in her life. She wiped a stray tear from her jaw as she made her way back upstairs.

XXXXX

41 hours and 18 minutes. That's how long it had been since Alison found out that _she_ was the reason for Emily's injuries. She hated herself for even bringing Emily into her fucked up life. She hated Elliott for doing what he did, _on purpose_. She couldn't believe it when the officer had told her that night he came to the house.

 _"Good evening, ma'am. I'm sorry to bother you at home, but we have some information on the accident that you were involved in on Sunday," the officer told her once she had answered the door and peeked her head out._

 _Alison looked behind her before making her way out onto the porch and quietly closing the door behind her. "Yes?" she said, her voice hesitant to hear what the officer was going to say._

 _The officer looked down and flipped through his notepad. "You used to have the married name of Rollins, correct?"_

 _Alison cleared her throat. "Yes, we divorced this past fall."_

 _"Elliott Rollins, correct?"_

 _"Yes." Alison shook her head. "I'm sorry, what does this have to do with the accident?"_

 _"The driver, ma'am, was your ex-husband."_

 _Alison furrowed her brow. Nothing was really making sense. She remembered back to the hospital and Emily's words in her drugged up state._ How could Emily have known? _"So, you mean? Elliott's dead?"_

 _The officer cleared his throat. "Yes ma'am. I'm sorry for your loss"_

 _"Well, thank you for letting me know, officer. I can give you the contact info for his parents if you need to contact them?" Alison said, still in shock._

 _"No, ma'am, we have all of that." He flipped through his notepad once again to confirm the information and Alison verified it._

 _"Oh, well, thank you." Alison turned around and was about to open the door when the officer interrupted her actions._

 _"There's more, ma'am." Alison slowly turned around with her brows furrowed in confusion. The officer cleared his throat once again before continuing. He seemed hesitant to ask his next question. "Were the two of you on good terms?"_

 _Alison took a breath and sighed before answering. "Honestly, no, he'd been harassing us for the last couple of month."_

 _"Us?" The officer asked for clarification._

 _"Myself and my girlfriend, Emily Fields." A small smile appeared on Alison's face as always with the mention of Emily. She couldn't help it now, it was like an embedded reaction that she had no control over._

 _"Ah, yes. The one who was banged up pretty badly. How exactly was he harassing you?"_

 _" Drunken phone calls, calling relentlessly and filling our voicemails. Nothing serious. But we both changed our numbers and hadn't heard from him for a little bit." That moment's peace that existed before the accident seemed like a lifetime ago now to the blonde._

 _"Did you ever file a complaint with the police?"_

 _"No, I didn't want to drag some big thing on and on. I just wanted him out of my life." The officer raised his eyebrow, clearly looking down at Alison's stomach. Alison rolled her eyes, becoming frustrated with all these extra questions when she just wanted to get back to Emily. "Again, what does all of this have to do with the accident?" The officer reached into his jacket pocket and pulled on an envelope and handed it to Alison. She looked at it questioningly before taking it and pulling out the paper inside. It looked like a copy of a letter. She recognized the writing right away. "What is this?"_

 _"We found this as we were going through Mr. Rollins personal affects. It wasn't addressed to anyone, just the letter_ A- _, but after reading it and some investigation, we are pretty positive that he meant it for you."_

 _Alison scanned over the letter and her heart sank. How could Elliott have done this? This wasn't the man that she had fallen in love with. That man was so far gone, and_ this _Elliott was a complete stranger. "T-thank you, officer."_

 _The officer tipped his hat to her. "Goodnight, ma'am. We'll be in contact if we need a written statement of his harassment."_

 _Alison read through the letter one final time before ripping it up and throwing it off the porch and into the rose bushes. What had her life become? She was nothing but a fuck up who didn't deserve love. It was_ her _fault that Elliott was dead and it was_ her _fault that the person she loved most in this world was hurting and in pain sitting on her couch._ She _was the reason that Emily had to fight for her life in that car. Alison hated herself. The people around her were better off if she just left them alone. She closed the door and immediately felt the weight of her life bring her down to the floor._

Alison had left the house a couple hours ago. She couldn't be around Emily anymore. The guilt of what had happened to her and Elliott had weighed her down over the past two days. Emily had tried to talk to her, but she couldn't even look at the brunette. The last time she looked at Emily in the eye was when the brunette had forced her to that night and she saw nothing but pain in Emily's chocolate eyes. Emily was _crying_ and it was all Alison's fault. But she couldn't speak. She looked at Emily's shoulder and flashed back to how awkwardly her arm was bent in the car. That night, when Emily left the bedroom in the middle of the night, Alison had watched her leave and her mind flashed to Emily, lifeless and bleeding in the car. Every time Emily spoke, she heard the crashing of plastic and metal. After about 24 hours, Emily had stopped trying to talk to her. She couldn't face Emily. She didn't want to see the look of rejection and resentment in those eyes that she had fallen so in love with. The silence in that house became deafening. She couldn't take it anymore. She began to feel claustrophobic stuck in the house.

She had no clear destination in mind, but eventually found her way to the cemetery where her mom was buried. Standing in front of the familiar tombstone, Alison broke down once again, sobs wracking her body. She just needed to tell someone how she felt. She fell to her knees on the soft grass, crying out to her mom. She laid everything out to the stone before her, letting her guilt and anger flow out of her in hopes that she could heal. She knew that she was pushing Emily away and she didn't want that. Even though she felt an immense amount of guilt, she couldn't lose Emily. Emily made her a better person, she _needed_ Emily if she hoped to be even a sliver of the mother that her mom was. Once she unloaded everything, she actually did feel a little better. She felt the need to go home and face Emily, whether she was ready or not. She frowned when she checked her phone and saw that she had a missed call and a text from Emily. There was no voicemail with the missed call, so Alison opened up the message.

 **I need you to come home.**

Alison frowned again. She knew that she had fucked up big time. She knew how much Emily needed her and she had let the brunette down. She felt awful, but knew that she needed to make it right. She sent off a quick response back.

XXXXX

Emily sat on the couch in the living room when the text came through her phone. She opened it up and read the message. _Oh, she can answer me over text, that's nice_ , Emily thought sarcastically.

 **Ok – Ali xo**

Over the past two days, her patience had been wearing thinner by the hour and the constant pain she was in didn't help her tolerance level, either. She had tried to get Alison to talk and open up to her, but nothing she did would work. Alison even refused to _look_ at Emily. There were several times in the past two days when Emily would sneak away into the bathroom and just cry. Cry from the pain in her shoulder and her frustration at not being able to care for herself and cry for her relationship that seemed to be falling apart right before her eyes. Alison never came to check on her. And it made Emily not only mad but hurt. She never in a million years thought that Alison would do this to her, to _them_.

Emily was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of keys in the front door. She looked up and saw Alison walking through the front door, throwing her keys in the bowl next to the door and walking hesitantly into the living room. Emily scoffed at the fact that Alison _still_ wasn't looking at her.

When Alison heard Emily's scoff, her head shot up and she noticed a suitcase sitting next to the end table. "Wh-what's that?" Alison said, scared to death of the answer.

"I'm going to stay with my mom for a little while." Emily's voice was cold and devoid of emotion.

"Why?" Alison's voice cracked. She was beginning to panic.

Emily threw her good arm up in the air. She couldn't help what came spilling out her mouth next. Everything that she was feeling, the anger, the pain, the rejection, the fear, all came boiling to the surface. "I need _help,_ Alison! I can't even button my own god damned pants without help and you've literally said _one word_ to me over the past two days! I've struggled to cook for you and make sure you are taken care of but I am in so much pain I can't do it anymore! I just can't! I'm sorry if you are regretting all of this and that you wish it was me who died or whatever, but I can't keep doing this!" Emily felt hot tears begin to sting her eyes and she quickly wiped them away.

Alison was taken aback by Emily's words. _She thinks I wanted her to be the one that-?_ She couldn't even finish the thought in her head. She had been so afraid that Emily wasn't going to make it in the beginning that she could barely breath at times. And now she had made her feel like the blonde wanted Elliott instead of her? Guilt washed over Alison tenfold. _Oh god, I really am the world's biggest fuck up,_ Alison thought to herself. "I don't wish it was you who died. Is that what you really think?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"You haven't spoken to me since the night I came home from the hospital! What the hell else am I supposed to think?" Emily's voice was laced with frustration and Alison couldn't help but flinch, knowing that she had made the situation _much_ worse than it needed to be.

Alison's own frustration with herself began to make its way to the surface. "I thought you were dead, Emily! I thought that I'd never see you again and it would be all my fault!"

Now it was Emily's turn to be taken aback by Alison's words. _She blamed herself? But why?_ "What do you mean? Nothing was your fault."

Alison fought back the tears as she remembered the conversation with the officer two nights ago. "They found a letter in Elliott's pocket. They're pretty positive it was meant for me. The cops… they don't think it was an accident." Alison dropped her gaze and began playing with her fingers nervously.

Emily took in the sight and realized that something much bigger was bothering the blonde. She had only seen Alison play with her fingers that that on a couple of occasions, and it was usually when Alison was in the middle of one of her self-loathing meltdowns. Everything inside of her melted away at that moment, and the only thing that mattered to Emily was comforting Alison. Instinctively, Emily closed the distance between her and Alison and reached out and took Alison's hand. "What?"

Alison smiled at the small gesture of Emily trying to comfort her. Her smile faded when she realized just how amazing Emily was and how she didn't deserve the way that Alison had been treating her the past two days. "I hate him so much, Em! You _have_ to believe me that I never wished you were… that you hadn't made it. I'm sorry I made you feel that way!"

"Why didn't you just _talk_ to me?"

Alison met Emily's eyes and she could see the frustration building up inside of the brunette, but there was also a touch of concern laced through them. "Because _I'm_ the reason you ended up in that hospital bed. _I'm_ the reason that Elliott came after you in the first place. Maybe if I had just left you alone, you wouldn't be stuck in an immobilizer after just having shoulder surgery. You'd still be safe," Alison cried.

Emily took a deep breath, her pain and frustration and anger beginning to leave her body in little bits. She _hated_ when Alison went down this path and she just wished that Alison would have talked to her, instead of shutting her out. Yes, it was frustrating beyond belief, but Emily could understand where she was coming from now. She wondered what was in that letter, but knows it must have been pretty bad to set Alison off like this. "Ali, look at me." Emily took her good hand and lifted Alison's chin so their eyes met. Emily tried to pour as much conviction into her voice as possible so that Alison would believe her. " _None_ of this is your fault. Elliott _clearly_ couldn't deal with you being happy with someone other than him. That's on _him,_ not _you._ You couldn't have controlled any of this."

"Every time I close my eyes, even to _blink_ I see it all over again. The flash of the headlights. My car all crumpled like a discarded piece of paper. You, laying there, lifeless with blood sp… oh god." Alison threw her hand over her mouth, looking like she was going to be sick as all the color drained from her face. She had to swallow down the bile that had suddenly risen into her throat.

Emily saw it and immediately led Alison to the couch. "Here, sit, Ali, please." Emily sat down next to Alison and took a hold of her hand. "Take a couple of deep breaths." Alison did as she was told and her color began to return. Emily had no idea that Alison was having such a hard time with everything. "Babe, I'm here and I'm safe. I'm _okay_. I'm not going anywhere. It's going to take _a lot_ more than some crazy ex-boyfriend who can't drive to keep me away from you, okay? You're both stuck with me, for life." Emily reached out and placed her hand gently on Alison's stomach.

A smile played across Alison's lips before falling into a frown. She pulled out of Emily's grip and ran her hands over her face. "I'm such an awful person! I'm so sorry, Em." Tears began to fall down Alison's face again.

"I know, Ali. It's _okay_. I know you were struggling. I just need you to _talk_ to me in the future, okay? I can't have you closing in on yourself like that. My mind went to some _very_ dark places that I don't want to ever venture to again."

"I'm sorry." Alison said, her voice breaking at the emotions that had been stirred up for both of them.

Emily gave Alison a watery smile. "I know. I forgive you."

"I don't deserve you," Alison said as she shook her head.

"Well, you're stuck with me, so you better start believing that you do," Emily said before leaning forward and gently pressing her lips to Alison's. For the first time in two days, both women actually felt relaxed. Yes, there were still going to be struggles and they both still had a long way to go in healing, but they had so much to look forward to. And as long as they stuck together, they could make it through anything. If anything, this whole ordeal has shown them that they are stronger together than they ever will be apart.

XXXXX

The following Monday, Alison returned back to work, leaving Emily at home by herself for the majority of the day. Alison had coordinated with Pam to come by before her shifts to help Emily with whatever she needed. Pam had just left and had made Emily a late breakfast and gotten her settled on the couch with a half of a pain pill. Emily's shoulder was beginning to feel better as the days went on, but she was sick of the immobilizer already. After their fight, Alison made sure that anything the brunette needed was taken care of as quickly as possible. Emily could tell that Alison felt badly about everything, but Emily was over it. It was a hard few days for _both_ of them and emotions were running high on _both_ their parts. Emily made sure each night to show Alison how much she appreciated her, often with foot rubs with her good hand to help soothe Alison's swollen, achy feet and ankles.

Towards the end of the week, an idea popped into Emily's head, but she needed Alison out of the house to make it happen. Once her mother left and she was settled in, she picked up her cell and sent a message off to a number that she wasn't sure she would ever use until last week.

 **Hey, it's Emily. Do you have any time free on your lunch today? There is something I need your help with.**

She knew that things were rocky between her and Spencer, but Emily really didn't know who else to go to with this request. She didn't know much about legal stuff and didn't want to be taken for a ride. Also, Spencer did seem genuine in the hospital about taking responsibility in her own actions. She hoped they could move forward, and maybe this was a way for them to do that. Only time would tell, though, if Spencer even wanted to at all. Emily dropped her phone into her lap and started surfing through the channels to find some trashy day time TV. After a few minutes, her phone vibrated in her lap.

 **Sure! Does 12:30 work for you? – Spencer**

 **Yeah, the door will be unlocked. I'll be on the couch, so come on in. See you soon!**

Emily glanced at the clock. It was a little after 11 a.m. Only another hour and a half until Emily could start her plan in motion and hopefully show Alison how much both her and the baby truly meant to the brunette. She rested her head against the back of the couch and waited for the taller brunette to arrive.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's another chapter. This is actually the second to last chapter of this story. The next one will be sort of an epilogue chapter to sort of tie everything together. Once again, thanks for the favorites/follows/reviews on this story. I'm super close to 100 reviews and I would LOVE to reach that on my first multi-chapter. Once again, thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great day! See you next week for the final installment! Enjoy!**

"That's the last one," Emily smiled as she slid the packet of paperwork back across the desk towards Spencer. "Thank you, again, for all your help with this."

Spencer gave Emily a genuine smile. "Anytime. I really am happy to help whenever I can, Em."

"I know," Emily smiled. This was her second meeting with Spencer since she came to the house and all the paperwork is finally completed. Emily knew from the beginning that this is what she wanted, but she didn't know how to make it happen until recently. She was so excited, she couldn't wait to surprise Alison. She just didn't know when was going to be the right time. It had been 3 weeks since their fight, and things still weren't back to one hundred percent between them. Alison was completely avoiding the topic of their fight or her feelings towards Elliott's death. After Alison had opened up about why she had shut Emily out, the brunette knew that Alison had more on the topic that she wanted to say, but didn't feel comfortable enough to talk to Emily about. Emily felt a little hurt about it, but she understood how guilty Alison felt about the whole thing and Emily knew why she wasn't talking to her. She just wished she would talk to _somebody._

"How have you been, Em? How's the shoulder?" Spencer asked, pulling Emily from her thoughts.

Emily gave Spencer a smie. "It's getting there. The pain gets less and less each day. I get to get out of this thing soon, too," She finished motioning to her immobilizer. She was thrilled when she was finally able to take it off some at physical therapy, but dreaded putting it back on at the end of her sessions.

Spencer nodded and then asked, "How's Alison?"

Emily gave her a weak smile. "She's good. She has good days and bad days, but the bad seem to be farther between now."

Spencer thinned her lips. "How are things between you two?"

Emily fought back the urge to roll her eyes. It seemed like everyone was asking her that question lately. "We're getting there. It's been tough, you know? It's all just been stressful, with the accident and Elliot and then my shoulder and getting everything ready for the baby." Emily blew out a breath trying to keep herself from letting the anxiety that she had been feeling overwhelm her. "I just want things to be back to normal," she whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

Spencer got up from her seat and rounded her desk. She kneeled down in front of Emily. "Hey, you guys love each other. More than I've seen two people love each other, honestly." Emily gave her a weak smile. "You can see it when you guys are in a room together. Or how your eyes light up when you are talking about each other." She reached out and grabbed Emily's hand and gave it a squeeze. "You guys are strong. You're going to be ok."

Emily looked at the stack of papers that she had just signed. "It's just… I don't want her to bottle up her feelings. The funeral was two and a half weeks ago and she didn't even mention it. I mean, I understand her not wanting to go, but it was a big part of her life that she can finally close the door on. I'm not sure she's really _dealing_ with everything, you know?" Emily shook her head. "Sorry, I should be going. I didn't mean to dump all this on you."

Emily went to stand up, but Spencer stopped her. "Em, listen, I know we are starting over here, so it's ok if you need to vent. I'm ok with you and Alison. I've gotten over myself and my issues and I _want_ you back in my life. You are one of the best people that I know. There's no way that my life _wouldn't_ be better without you as my friend. I really am sorry for everything, and I promise that I'll make it up to you."

Emily smiled as unshed tears threatened her eyes. "Helping me with this, this is more than I could ever ask for from you."

Spencer matched Emily's smile and gave her a slight nod before standing and pulling the brunette up into a tight hug. "Ok, time to go," Spencer laughed as she tried to blink away tears in her eyes. "I have a business lunch in 20 minutes, so I don't have time to become a blubbering mess." Spencer picked up the stack of paperwork and placed it in a manila envelope before handing it to Emily. "All Ali needs to do is sign where it's highlighted, and then you can file them at city hall."

"Thanks again, Spence," Emily said as she made her way out of the office. It was a beautiful day, and had decided to walk to the law firm that Spencer's parents ran. She was enjoying her time soaking up the sun when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and frowned at Alison's name flashing on the screen. Emily looked at the time and noted that Alison _should_ have been in the middle of a class right now. Curious as to what Alison could need or want, Emily opened up the message.

 **Hey, I just came home and you're not here. Will you be home soon? – Ali xo**

 **Yeah, sorry, I just went for a walk to get out of the house. Why are you home so early? Is everything ok? – Em xo**

 **Yeah, I'm just not feeling that great today. I'll be fine once I'm in your arms. – Ali xo**

 **Awww, I'll be home soon, baby. I love you. – Em xo**

 **I love you, too – Ali xo**

Emily furrowed her brow as she picked up the pace towards their house. She tried not to worry that something was physically wrong with Alison or the baby, but it was hard. Alison was only three weeks from her due date and the doctor told them that realistically, the baby could come any day now. She also hoped that Alison was ok, mentally. She wished Alison would talk to someone, _anyone_ about Elliott and the accident. She knew that Alison wasn't sleeping that well because of it, and knew that her lack of sleep wasn't good for her, or the baby. She was beginning to get extremely frustrated with this whole situation.

That weekend had been so perfect, how did it turn to shit so fast? _Elliott._ Emily hated him. She had wanted him out of their lives, but did she want him to die? She realized after the accident that she was glad that he was gone and they wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. Before the accident, Emily had wished Elliott would just be out of their lives and would let them live in peace. She knew he would always be a part of their lives because of the baby, but once the accident happened, she was actually glad they wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. She only felt remorse for what Alison would be going through. She had absolutely no sadness towards Elliott's death. And that was the least Emily Fields thing that she could have been feeling. Emily had _always_ been one of the most sympathetic people that people knew. She would often feel sadness for loss of lives that she didn't know, like when classmates would experience a loss in their families. Or when she would hear about death in the news. Her having no emotion towards Elliott's death had rattled her to the core. She had talked to someone about it though. Her mother had set her up to talk with the psychologist at the police station after the accident. Since then, she had felt a lot better about everything. She realized that those thoughts were from her deep-rooted need to protect Alison. The psychologist told let her realize that it was ok for her to have those thoughts, just not _act_ on them. _Well, he took care of that for me_ , Emily chuckled humorlessly to herself.

By the time she made it home, her head was swimming with all sorts of different scenarios of what she would walk into when she entered through the front door. She took a steadying breath before reaching out and turning the door knob. "Ali!" She cried out as she placed her keys in the bowl next to the door and did her best to hide the envelope from Alison's view.

"In here!" Alison cried out from the living room. Emily entered and found Alison curled up on the couch under a blanket with a cup of tea. She looked up and her expression softened once she saw Emily come into view. "Hey…" she said as she placed her cup on the coffee table and held her arms out for Emily to come join her.

"Hey," Emily said as she settled down behind Alison, pulling the blonde into her front and wrapping her good arm around Alison, just above her ever growing bump. "You ok?" Emily asked as she gently kissed the side of Alison's head. She felt Alison melt into her touch.

"I'm good now. I'm just not feeling great today," Alison sighed as she rubbed her belly. "I just can't seem to get comfortable at all. I was hoping some _sleepy time_ tea would help relax me some."

Emily settled her chin on Alison's shoulder. "Do you need me to get you something? I could maybe rub your feet?"

Alison shook her head. "No, this is as comfortable as I've felt all day. Can we just stay like this for a little bit?"

"Sure, baby," Emily smiled as she nuzzled into Alison's neck. "How was work today?" Alison bit her lip nervously and began to pull at her fingers. Emily noticed her change in behavior and stiffened slightly. "Baby, _please_ , talk to me. Did something happen at school?"

"No, nothing at _school_." Alison turned her head and noticed the look of concern and confusion written all over Emily's face. She took a deep breath and let it out. "I, um, I didn't go to work today." When Emily didn't respond, she kept going. "I, uh, I went to go talk to someone. About the accident and Elliott."

A smile slowly crept across Emily's face. "Really? Why didn't you tell me?"

Alison's cheeks began to flush. "Because I didn't really think it would help anything." Emily raised her eyebrows in mock shock. Alison giggled and slapped Emily's arm gently.

"Well? How did it go?" Emily gently nudged Alison to open up more.

"It actually went really well. Dr. Sullivan is super nice. She gave me a couple of breathing exercises to do when I start fell myself have an anxiety attack."

"Well, that's great, baby. I'm so proud of you," Emily cooed as she kissed the side of Alison's head again before settling on her shoulder once more.

"You are? Why?" Alison scrunched her nose up.

"Of course, love. I know how hard this has been on you. Even after our fight, I know you haven't been sleeping that great. And I can tell that there's been something you've been wanting to ask me, but have been too afraid to." Alison's cheeks flushed again. "Whatever it is, Ali, you can ask me. I'm not going anywhere," Emily said as she tried to reassure her girlfriend.

Alison dropped her head back to gently rest on the front of Emily's shoulder. Emily had become way more tolerant to any sort of pressure on her shoulder, so they have been cuddling up like this more and more over the past week. They both love it because it makes them feel somewhat _normal_ again. Alison thought long and hard about how she was going to word her question, before she just finally came out and asked it. "Do you remember in the hospital that you knew it was Elliott driving the car?"

Both women stiffened at the question. There was a long pause of silence between the two of them. Emily couldn't remember if what she saw was real or not. She remembered in the split second before the crash, she saw the other driver. And who she saw was Elliott. She wasn't sure if it was just someone who _looked_ like Elliott, or if it really was him, but once Alison had confirmed it was him, she knew that her mind hadn't played tricks on her. "I didn't know if it was a dream or not."

"What do you mean?" Alison asked after a short pause.

"I wasn't sure if I really saw _him_ , or just someone who _looked like_ him. When I saw the bright lights, I turned and looked, and for a split second before it all went black, I saw Elliott's face. Like I said, I didn't know if it was my mind playing tricks on me or not, but I guess in my drugged up haze I must've said something to you about it?" Emily asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, a couple of times, actually. The second time you said it, Jason had just came into your room and he said that the driver didn't make it. You must've been somewhat awake, because you mumbled about how you were glad he didn't survive."

Emily's cheeks immediately flushed red and she felt guilt consume her. She didn't want to make Alison feel bad. Elliott was still a part of her life. Their time together hadn't been _all_ bad. There was a time when he was the man that Alison fell in love with, but he changed and ruined them. That's not to say that a _part_ of Alison didn't still care about him. "I'm sorry, Ali. I didn't mean to say it."

"I know. It's ok, baby." Alison reached her hand around and began rubbing her palm against the back of Alison's neck. "I talked to Dr. Sullivan about it and made me see it from your point of view. She made me see that if the roles were reversed and you had gone through what I went through, I would feel the same way. I would want to protect you from anything and anyone." Alison sat up and turned on the couch so she was facing Emily. She cupped Emily's face in her hands and gently rubbed her thumbs across Emily's cheeks, wiping away the tears that began to fall from those chocolate orbs. "Shhhhh, it's ok, baby. We're going to be ok." Alison gently kissed the tip of Emily's nose before leaning in and capturing Emily's lips. "I love you," Alison whispered against Emily's lips.

Emily sniffled and smiled. "I love you, too. So, so much." Alison smiled and turned back around, settling once again between Emily's legs. For the first time in weeks, Emily felt like her and Alison were really, _truly_ going to be ok. They held each other the rest of the night before heading up to bed early, with a renewed sense of hope for what tomorrow would bring them.

XXXXX

Emily was sound asleep when she was awoken by cries of pain coming from the master bathroom. She immediately sat up and noticed that Alison wasn't next to her. She looked over and saw the light on in the master bath. "Babe?" She called out as she began to climb out of bed. She was answered by another moan of pain from Alison. She rushed and pushed the door open to find Alison standing at the sink and a puddle of slightly pink liquid underneath her. "Ali?" Emily asked again, her voice straining to remain calm.

Finally, Alison looked up at Emily. A wave of emotions flooded through Emily at the sight. She knew what was happening. She couldn't believe that the time was finally here. She began being bombarded with every different emotion imaginable: joy, fear, anxiety, pressure, you name it, Emily felt it in that moment. But she needed to stay calm for Alison. "It's time, Em." Just then, Alison cried out again. "We have to hurry!" She said through gritted teeth. Emily threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt as fast as she could without jostling her shoulder too much. Thankfully, she was just taken out of the immobilizer last week, so she was almost back to normal. She didn't bother to help Alison get changed because she knew they were just going to put her in a gown once they got to the hospital anyway. Once Emily was clothed, she walked back to Alison and helped her into the car. Emily had already made sure to have the car seat and both hospital bags in the car a week and a half ago, for just this reason. _Of course she would go into labor in the middle of the night,_ Emily smirked to herself.

Fortunately, they only lived 10 minutes from the hospital, and by the time they arrived, Alison's contractions were already 2 minutes apart. They took Alison away in a wheelchair while Emily went and parked the car. She ran into the hospital and crashed into the front desk. "Alison DiLaurentis, please," Emily huffed out, trying to catch her breath.

The lady behind the counter smiled and pressed a button next to her computer. The double doors swung open and Emily began to make her way through. "Room 105," the woman said.

"Thank you!" Emily called out as she walked to the room as fast as possible. Once inside, she found Alison already hooked up to the fetal monitors and in a hospital gown. There was a doctor in the room who had just finished examining Alison. She rushed over and grabbed Alison's hand and turned to face the doctor who was removing his gloves.

"Well, Alison, it looks like you're about 8 centimeters dilated. Looks like you got here just in time, or else you probably would have had this baby at home!" He laughed. Emily's eyes bugged out at the thought and Alison cried out as another contraction ripped through her.

"Can you give her something for the pain?" Emily asked as Alison's death grip on her hand increased.

"Unfortunately she's too far along for an epidural. But the good news is that you should be able to meet your daughter within the hour," he smiled as he left the room.

Emily immediately felt her eyes water at the thought of meeting their daughter tonight. She looked down at Alison who had the same watery eyes as herself. "Did you hear that, babe?" Emily whispered as she brushed a lock of Alison's sweaty hair from her face. Alison just nodded before Emily leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "You're amazing. I love you so much, Alison."

"I love you too, Em," Alison smiled against Emily's mouth before another contraction overtook her.

After about 30 more minutes of contractions, the doctor came back into the room and informed Alison that it was time to push. The nurse folded down the lower half of the bed and brought up stirrups for Alison to place her feet into. "Ok, Alison, when you feel a contraction coming on, I need you to take a big breath in and then push as hard as you can through your bottom. Do you think you can do that?"

Alison looked up at Emily and saw nothing but love in those brown eyes staring back at her. "You can do it, baby," Emily cooed to her softly while stroking her hair lightly. Alison looked at the doctor with determination in her eyes and nodded before taking a deep breath in and pushing. Alison kept her eyes locked on Emily, trying to draw in as much strength as she could from her. She couldn't believe this was finally happening. Their family was growing. They came into this hospital as a couple, but would be walking out as a family of three. Suddenly, everything floated away, and all she saw in the room was Emily. All she heard was Emily's voice counting down her contraction. "six… five… four… three… two… one… and done," Emily finished her countdown from ten and Alison took a second to catch her breath. "You did amazing, baby. I love you." Alison smiled back as best she could.

"Alison, that was very good. Can you give me another one just like that?" The doctor said from between Alison's legs. Alison nodded and took another breath in. Once again, Emily counted her down from ten and Alison got lost in the brunette who has never left her side through all of this. "The head is out!" The doctor announced. "Ok, Alison, I'm going to need you to not push quite so hard this time. I'm going to help guide the shoulders out and then the rest will slip right out. Are you ready?"

Alison nodded her head as tears began to stream down her face. She looked up at Emily through watery eyes and gave her a genuine smile. "Let's meet our daughter," Alison whispered as Emily placed her forehead on Alison's temple. Alison took one final deep breath in and pushed one final time. She screamed out as the rest of their daughter passed out of her and her little cries could be heard around the room.

"Congratulations! It's a girl!" The doctor announced as he held her up for the women to see. "Emily, would you like to cut the cord?" Emily's eyes widened for what felt like the tenth time since they got to the hospital and she looked at Alison. Alison let out a little giggle and nodded for Emily to go ahead and do it. Emily grabbed the scissors with shaking hands and cut between the clamps that the nurse had put on. Once the cord was cut, the baby was taken to a portable crib where she was wiped down, weighed and measured.

"You can take pictures now, if you'd like." Emily looked at the nurse who was weighing the baby and just gave her a watery smile before pulling out her phone and snapping away picture after picture. Once the nurse was done doing what she needed to do, she swaddled the baby in a blanket, put a little pink cap on her head and handed her off to Emily. "6 lbs, 12 oz and 19 inches long. A beautiful, healthy little girl." Emily took her daughter into her arms for the first time and feel instantly head over heels in love with this little girl. "Now, does she have a name, yet?" The nurse asked as she grabbed the information card out of the plastic slot on the portable crib and a marker to mark the time of birth, weight and length, and name of the baby.

"Jessica Catherine DiLaurentis-Fields," Alison spoke up and Emily's head snapped up towards her girlfriend. They had never talked about the last name before. Emily just always assumed it would be either Alison's or Elliott's last name. Fresh tears began to stain her cheeks as she walked over to Alison and handed her the baby. Emily pressed her lips firmly into Alison's temple and Alison leaned into the touch. "I love you, so much, Emily."

"I love you, too. She's beautiful, Alison."

"She's perfect," Alison said through watery eyes. "Hello, Jessica," Alison cooed as she placed her finger gently against her daughter's tiny button-like nose. "Your mommies love you so much little girl. You are going to be so loved that you won't know what to do with it all. We will _always_ be here for you to protect and nurture you, no matter what." Alison whispered before Emily leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on Jessica's little head, breathing in her scent that was distinctly new baby.

Emily looked away from baby Jessica and locked eyes with Alison. "Thank you, so much for this, Ali. You've made me the happiest that I have ever been in my life."

Alison gave her a genuine smile before new tears fell down her face. Neither woman had ever felt the amount of joy and emotion that they felt in that moment. Becoming mothers had completely transformed both of them in a matter of seconds. Seeing the love that each of them had for Jessica made them fall in love more with each other than they ever thought possible. They had shared a life-altering experience together, and Alison realized in that moment that she didn't want anyone other than Emily by her side for the rest of her life. "Promise me forever, Em."

Emily rested her forehead against Alison's temple before closing her eyes and laughing quietly. She gently pressed her lips to Alison's skin and walked over to one of the hospital bags and pulled out a manila envelop. Alison gave her a look of confusion as Emily walked back to the bed and placed the envelop on her lap. Emily gently picked up Jessica and Alison hesitantly opened the envelop. She didn't think she had any tears left, but her tears absolutely spilled over and sobs of joy wracked her body as she say the words "Application for Adoption" across the top of the first page. She looked up at Emily through blurry eyes. "I want nothing more than to make our family official. I promise you that I will be there for you every step of the way. For her first word, her first steps, her first haircut, her first boyfriend or girlfriend, her first heartbreak, her graduation, her wedding. For _everything_. I promise that I will provide for you and protect you both, _forever._ "

"I love you, Em," Alison said, her voice raspy with tears.

"I love you, too, Ali." Emily said through her own tears. Both women knew that this was the beginning of a beautiful life together. With what they had been through the past 9 months, they knew that they would only continue to grow stronger and _nothing_ would ever pull them apart.


	28. I NEED YOUR HELP

**A/N: Ok, I know you guys weren't too keen when I did this before because I tricked some of you into thinking there was a real chapter, but I REALLY need your help. I have been going back and forth in my head about what I should do with this story and that's why I haven't given you guys an ending yet. I was going to end it, but a lot of the reviews have asked for either a sequel or have expressed that they would want to see more chapters. I was originally going to wrap everything up in a nice neat little package, but then an idea came to me for a sequel that I think I would like to try. So I was going to write it and surprise you guys at the end. However, its going to have a lot more angst and drama than this one did (but Emison is always #endgame), which means the epilogue will have some drama because it will set up for the next story. And I don't know if the epilogue I wrote for the sequel really is right for the story. So, what I'm asking you guys is this: do you want to see this story continue, even if it makes the ending of this not as light and fluffy as I (or you guys, maybe) wanted? Or do you guys want a happy ending to this and I'll start on my other Emison idea I had for you guys? I really want to give you guys what you want and I don't want to ruin this for you and honestly I'm stressed about it, haha. I have both versions of the epilogue written, so let me know what version you guys want! I will upload on Monday once I get your input. Thanks guys!**


	29. Chapter 29

***** IF YOU WANT THE "HAPPY" ENDING (MEANING YOU WANT THIS STORY COMPLETELY WRAPPED UP), STOP READING AND GO TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! *****

 **A/N: Happy Monday! As promised, it's Monday and I'm posting the epilogue(s). So I finally decided to give you guys both chapters. I won't say that this one isn't happy, but it leaves a lot open for a sequel. Which I'm incredibly excited to get started on. I want to say first and foremost, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your reviews, follows and favorites of both myself and this story. I never in a million years thought I would have the following of this story that I did. Special thanks to Francesca79, Alwaysdream1, LifeOfAPLL, and all the others and guests who have reviewed this and helped keep me motivated! So, without further ado, here's the epilogue of "Coming Home". Please, let me know what you guys think!**

"Ugh! Em!" Alison called out as she sat on the floor of the living room with dirty baby wipes surrounding her and a squirming four month old between her legs.

"Yeah?" Emily said as she came into the living room, dropping a hamper of clean laundry next to the sofa to be folded. Her face quickly scrunched up at the rancid smell of dirty diaper filling the room.

"Is there a clean onsie in there? _Your_ daughter just had an explosion and it's all up her back." Alison said as she scrunched her face up in disgust. Jessica looked up at her and gurgled, as if she was amused at how much of a mess she had made.

"Oh, so now she's _my_ daughter?" Emily mocked as she searched through the laundry basket, finally digging out a clean onsie before tossing it over to Alison and grabbing another article of clothing to fold.

"As of 11 o'clock this morning, she will be officially," Alison smiled as she began to change Jessica into a new onsie and put her dress on over. "And besides, there's only one other person in this room besides her who can shit that much and she isn't sitting on the living room floor," Alison laughed as she tickled Jessica's little legs, eliciting a belly laugh from the baby. Before she knew it, she was hit in the head with a burp rag that Emily had been folding. She looked at Jessica and smiled. "She's mad because she knows it's true! Yes she does!" Alison cooed to her daughter who began blowing spit bubbles and Alison used the rag to wipe the droll from Jessica's face.

"Great, _already_ you two are ganging up on me!" Emily said in mock exasperation.

Alison just laughed as she picked up Jessica and placed her into her swing next to the couch. She walked back over to Emily and bent down before gently placing a kiss to her lips. "I'm just going to change real quick, then we'll be ready to leave. I love you."

"I love you too, Ali," Emily smiled as she watched the blonde bound out of the room and up the stair. She let out a sigh as she continued to fold the laundry that only seemed to grow by the day now that there was a baby in the house. Emily was glad that Alison was in a good mood today. It was hard not to be though, with the adoption being finalized today, but Emily had noticed that Alison had been _off_ for a couple months now. When they first brought Jessica home, they all had a readjusting period they had to go through. For the first few weeks, Jessica refused to be put down without crying endlessly. The baby also seemed to have an insatiable appetite. Alison had initially tried exclusively breastfeeding, but after consulting with several lactation specialists, found out Alison's body just wasn't producing enough milk to keep Jessica satisfied. Alison had felt awful at first, but after talking it out with Emily, decided that they were still going to breatfeed, but supplement with formula when needed. It had still been hard on Alison, though. She felt like her body was failing in providing for her daughter, even though Emily constantly reassured her that wasn't the case at all.

 _"She just has a big appetite, is all," Emily smiled as she lightly nudged the blonde's shoulder, trying to elicit a smile from Alison, but it was unsuccessful. "Don't be so hard on yourself, she'll still be getting the nutrients and the bonding time from you. That's not being taken away. She just needs a little more fat to keep her full. And besides, now I can take night time feedings while you sleep."_

 _Alison sighed as she leaned into Emily. "I just want to be the mom that she deserves."_

 _"You are, baby. You are." Emily stretched her arm across Alison's shoulders, pulling the blonde closer into her side while placing a kiss to her head. They sat there in silence for a few moments, enjoying the peaceful few minutes before cries of the newborn were heard through the baby monitor._

Once they had the feeding problem straightened out, Jessica became slightly easier to handle. She wasn't crying because she was hungry all the time anymore, which was a relief. And now, after four months, they had a routine down. Jessica only woke up once in the middle of the night for feedings, and Emily would usually take those and let Alison sleep. After all, Alison was home all day with Jessica once Emily returned to work, so it would give Emily and Jessica some time to bond. Alison didn't mind, either. She found nighttime feedings were the worst and just wanted to stay in bed. Emily's mind took her back to one particularly hard night about two weeks after Jessica came home.

 _Emily awoke to the sounds of crying coming from downstairs. She noticed Alison was no longer next to her, so she threw on a hoodie over her head and headed for the stairs. The newborn's cries became louder as she descended the stairs. She found her girlfriend in the living room pacing back and forth frantically, dark circles under her eyes and bouncing the crying baby trying to soothe her. Emily could see Jessica's face was flushed red while her little hands were clasped in anger and her feet were kicking in frustration._

 _"Ali?" Emily called out loudly over the baby's cries._

 _"I can't get her to stop, Em. She won't stop crying. I've changed her diaper, she refuses a bottle_ or _the boob and she spits out the pacifier. I don't know what to do." Alison's voice broke at the end as tears began to spill out of the blonde's tired and bloodshot eyes._

 _Emily slowly walked over to the blonde and took Jessica out of Alison's arms. "Baby, it's ok. I've got her, go back upstairs and get some sleep." She placed a kiss to Alison's forehead, tasting a hint of salt on her lips from Alison's sweat that was beginning to form from her agitated state. She took a deep sigh as she bounced the baby up and down while watching Alison head back up the staircase. "It's ok, babygirl, Mama's got you," the brunette cooed to the infant as she slowly started to settle down after a couple of minutes. Emily tried the bottle once again and Jessica drank about half of it before finally drifting off to sleep. After quietly carrying her up to their bedroom, Emily gently placed the baby in her bassinet before climbing back into bed and sliding next to Alison's body. Exhaustion took over Emily's body immediately and she didn't even notice the quiet sobs coming from the blonde being held in her arms._

Emily thought that it would get easier for Alison as Jessica got bigger and wasn't _quite_ so needy. She also thought that with Emily being home for summer break, it would give Alison more time to herself. However, Emily had noticed that Alison seemed to take naps in the middle of the day when Jessica napped. That in itself was fine, being a parent was _extremely_ hard work, but when Alison began making excuses about not wanting to go for a walk or go to the pool with them, Emily became concerned and had approached the blonde one day at the beginning the summer.

 _"Alison, you've been cooped up in the house all week. Just come for a walk with us, it's beautiful out." Emily pleaded as she spread sunscreen across Jessica's delicate skin._

 _"I have so much to do here, Em. There's so much laundry and a mountain of dishes in the sink," Alison protested._

 _"I can fold the laundry tonight after we put Jessica down and I'll do the dishes after that. Please, Ali." Emily pouted out her bottom lip and gave her puppy dog eyes, hoping that would be enough to change Alison's mind._

 _"Plus I need to start making dinner, which I can't do with a sink full off dishes."_

 _"We'll eat out tonight, then." Emily was beginning to grow frustrated. She just wanted them to go out and do normal family things, but it seemed like Alison just always wanted to stay in the house._

 _"Emily! Enough!" Alison snapped to the brunette. "I don't want to go for a walk! You guys can go if you want, but I'm staying here!" Alison crossed her arms across her chest defiantly. Alison felt bad for snapping at her girlfriend the way that she did, but something inside of her snapped. The sound of Emily's voice grated on her nerves, and she didn't know_ why _, which in itself made the situation even more frustrating._

 _"Fine,_ Alison! _Stay here! But I'm pretty sure no one ever regretted spending_ too _much time with their kid!"_ _Emily regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but it was too late to take them back. She placed Jessica in her stroller and stormed out of the house, slamming the front door behind her so Alison know exactly how frustrated she was._

She had come back that day a little over an hour and a half later and noticed that the dishes were done and dinner was cooking on the stove. She had found Alison in their bedroom, putting away one of the loads of laundry she had managed to fold. She noticed Alison's cheeks were stained with tears and she felt her heart break that she did that to her girlfriend. She apologized profusely to Alison, who in turn apologized back for not spending more time with the two of them while they could. She promised the brunette that she would be better and for the most part, she had been. She made more of an effort, but Emily could still sense something was off. She had read in the pregnancy books that it oftentimes took months for a woman's hormones to balance out after having a child and chalked Alison's behavior up to that.

So, she tried to give Alison as many breaks as she could. She would often draw a warm bath for the blonde at the end of every night and let her have some time for herself, even if the blonde was in a foul mood that day or not. Pam was a godsend to them, also. She would often come over and watch Jessica if _both_ Alison and Emily wanted to sneak away for some alone time, which usually just meant napping in each other's arms without being woken up by a screaming baby. Pam had also watched the baby for a couple of "date nights".

Emily just wanted Alison to be happy, and she tried everything in her power to be the best girlfriend and mother she could be, always. Once they had brought Jessica home, Emily knew that this was the life that she was meant for. She had promised Alison forever, and she intended on giving that to her.

XXXXX

"Ms. Fields, I am glad to announce that you are now an official parent of Jessica Catherine DiLaurentis-Fields." The judge stared down at their paperwork, not even bothering to look up, like he had dozens of these cases to preside over today and it was too much of a bother to see the joy in the faces standing in front of him. It annoyed Alison to no end, but she refused to let it get to her and ruin today for Emily. She had done enough of that lately and she felt awful for it, but she just couldn't help herself. No matter how hard she tried, she always felt like she was standing in quick sand and the more she struggled to get out, the more consumed she felt. Alison really was so happy that Emily was stepping up and wanted to take responsibility for her daughter, but she felt like it should have caused her more emotion than what she felt inside. "Turn around to get your first official family picture."

Emily cradled baby Jessica in her arms as she turned and looked briefly at Alison. The blonde looked gorgeous. She had a _genuine_ smile plastered on her face, which Emily only saw on rare occasions now. She secretly hoped that whatever funk Alison was in that she would soon be out of it. There were days that she missed the woman that she fell in love with so much that her heart physically ached. She knew it wasn't Alison's fault, but she just hoped life wouldn't always be so hard for them. Now that Elliott was gone and Emily had officially adopted Jessica, she had hoped that things would finally smooth out soon. Emily bent forward and placed a gentle kiss to Jessica's forehead, before capturing Alison's lips in a chaste kiss. Alison gave Emily a dimpled smile before wrapping her arm around the brunette's waist and turning them both toward the photographer for their "first official family photo".

As they left the courthouse, Alison quickly slipped her hand into Emily's free hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Alison took a breath of deep air into her lungs before turning to Emily. "Would you want to go grab some sandwiches and then go have a picnic at the park? Let Jessica crawl around a little bit so she hopefully takes a longer nap when we get home," Alison said with a wink at the mention of a longer nap.

Emily's smile reached her eyes for the first time in what felt like weeks. "That sounds perfect, just like my girls," Emily said while pressing her lips to Alison's.

"I'm anything but, Emily," Alison said with a frown as she looked at the concrete between their feet.

"Ali-" Emily tried to protest but was interrupted.

"No, Em, let me just say this, please?" Alison asked with pleading eyes. When Emily slowly nodded her head, Alison continued. "I know I haven't been the best mother or girlfriend lately, but I want to be better. You've _always_ seen the best in me, even at my worst. And I feel like right now is one of those times."

"Ali, stop being so hard on yourself. Being a new parent is _hard_ , but you are doing the best you can. That's all Jessica or I can ask for," Emily pleaded, hating the pain she could see in her girlfriend's blue eyes.

Alison shook her head. "I feel like I'm drowning, Em. I feel like I just get up and go through the motions every day. I see you with Jessica, and I see the _joy_ that she brings to your life."

Emily's face fell into worry as she took in the blonde's words. "Ali, she brings you joy, too," she said nervously.

Alison shook her head slowly. " _Sometimes_. But other times, I feel like I'm just here. Sometimes I smile because I _think_ it's what I should do, not because I have a _reason_ to." Seeing the look of complete worry on Emily's face caused Alison to panic slightly at the words that just left her mouth. "I didn't mean that you guys aren't my reason for being happy. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Emily lifted her hand and placed it gently on Alison's face, cupping her face and rubbing her smooth skin soothingly with her thumb. She leaned down so she could look directly into Alison's eyes. "Ali, I know you didn't mean that. And I know you've been struggling with your body and your hormones since you had Jessica." She leaned forward and placed her forehead to Alison's. "And it's ok. We're not going anywhere, we're here for you." Emily swallowed hard before continuing, knowing that the next words that fell from her lips would either make or break the blonde's mood for the day. "But I think you should go talk to someone. Figure out _why_ exactly you are feeling the way you are." Emily flinched slightly, worried about the reaction she would get, but to her surprise, Alison just looked her in the eye and gave her a slight head nod. "If it's just a hormone imbalance that never worked itself out, they may be able to help you."

"I know, Em. I will call Dr. Sullivan when we get home, see if I can get in early next week." Alison's eyes looked hopeful and Emily noticed the glint in them had returned, if even just temporarily. "But for right now, we have a picnic to get to and then a party to prepare for tomorrow," Alison announced as she slid her hand back into Emily's and squeezed her fingers tightly as they headed off to the deli across the street for lunch.

XXXXX

"A toast! To the new moms, Emily and Alison!" Jason announced as everyone raised their glasses. "May your nights be filled with more sleep than they probably are right now!" Everyone chuckled at the joke as they all took a drink from their beverages.

Emily felt a little overwhelmed by the support that was lingering around them. Everyone they knew had come out to support Emily's endeavor to adopt Jessica and make her officially the brunette's daughter in the eyes of the law, so the couple decided to throw an "Adoption Party" as a thank you. It seemed like everyone in their lives was there: Pam, Jason and Aria, Spencer, and Hanna with her husband, Caleb, along with quite a few teachers from RHS. It was a small gathering, but Emily felt like all these people were her _family_. She had been through so much in her life, from feeling like she was on top of the world, to having it all come crashing down on her in an instant. She had moved across the country and embarked on a journey to first try and hide who she was, and then to finally embrace it once again. And then she found her way back to the place she was born, only to find the love of her life and start a family with her. For once in her life, she felt truly _home_. Sure, things weren't _perfect_ right now with Alison's struggles and the general struggles that come with raising a baby, but when is anyone's life _truly_ perfect? This was her life, and she loved it to pieces. She had a daughter who was the spitting image of her mother, including the gorgeous piercing blue eyes. The only difference was the short, dark hair that laid atop her head. She had a woman next to her that she would do anything for and knew would do anything for her in return. This was her home, and nothing would ever take that away from her.

Alison was mingling through the crowd, being the perfect host as always. Emily knew that she had a rough morning, but she seemed to be doing a little better after Emily insisted she take a small nap before the guests arrived. When she woke up, she was feeling better enough to face the people in their lives, though not at her 100 percent self. Right now, she was talking to Jason and Aria, who had been amazing with their niece and had already started the process of spoiling her rotten. She locked eyes with Alison and Emily could see how tired Alison was. She gave her a small smile before turning around and letting her face fall into a frown. She hoped that Dr. Sullivan would be able to help Alison through what she thought was most likely post-partum depression. She loved the blonde for being able to recognize that she needed help and applauded her for taking action. She was looking forward to hearing what Dr. Sullivan had to say about it all when Alison came home from her appointment the following week.

"You guys sure know how to throw a party," Spencer said as she sauntered over with an extra champagne flute in her hand that she held out for the hostess, pulling Emily out of her thoughts.

Emily smiled and gave the taller brunette a quick nod while taking the flute from Spencer's hand. "Thank you, Spencer, for everything."

"You did all the decorating, Em," Spencer said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk as she took a sip of champagne.

"I'm serious, Spence. I wouldn't have known the first thing to do in adopting Jessica if it wasn't for you. You could've sent me off to someone else, but I appreciate you taking all that time and putting in the effort you did to see it through."

Spencer gave Emily a genuine smile. "There was no way I was letting some incompetent lawyer screw up your paperwork and waste your time and money while you had to keep going back to court to straighten everything out."

Emily let out a small laugh. "Thank you, anyway."

"You're welcome." Spencer clinked her glass with Emily's at the heartfelt sentiment. In that moment, she noticed Hanna and Aria walking their way with their own champagne flutes.

"Hey girls," Emily greeted as she hugged Hanna first and then Aria. "Thanks for coming today."

"We wouldn't miss this for the world," Aria stated.

"Hell, free alcohol, count me in!" Hanna said excitedly.

Emily laughed at her blonde friend. After reconnecting with Hanna after that day at the Radley, the two have been hanging out at least twice a week and she was glad to find out that her closest childhood friend's personality hadn't changed at all, really. Hanna was still the life of the party. Spencer had softened up around her now, too. Her and Alison butted heads every once in a while, but Alison was just as grateful for Spencer's help with the adoption as Emily was. The blonde was surprised to learn that Emily had sought out her help after the accident, but was glad she did because Spencer did absolutely everything in her power to get the adoption completed as quickly as possible.

The smallest brunette of the group looked between the four of them, a small smirk emerging on her face. She raised her glass to the middle of the group. "To the four musketeers riding again!"

Everyone laughed as the all raised their glasses in the same gesture and shouted "here, here!" Emily looked around at these girls and her heart swelled. She hadn't realized how much she had missed them in her life until they were all reunited. They all stepped in closer for a group hug and held each other tightly. _Yeah, this is definitely home_ , Emily thought to herself.

The party was coming to a close about an hour later. The afternoon sun was beginning to makes it's decent towards the west, casting long shadows in the back yard. Most of the RHS faculty had left, along with Jason and Aria, leaving just Pam, Alison, Emily, Spencer, Hanna and Caleb. Caleb was by himself, nursing a beer next to the fire pit, while Alison had pulled Spencer and Hanna away about five minutes before for a "secret meeting" inside, leaving Emily alone on the back porch. The look on Alison's face as she dragged the girls inside made Emily insatiably curious as to what the blonde could _ever_ want to talk to them about. Emily made her way to follow them before Alison turned around and shot daggers at Emily's direction, daring her to see what would happen should she follow them inside. Both Spencer and Hanna looked back at pleading eyes to Emily. "Send a search party in five, Em, if we don't come back," Hanna shouted over her shoulder as Alison led them through the sliding glass doors and into the house. Emily laughed as she heard Alison say something about how dramatic Hanna was being.

"This was a beautiful party, honey," Pam said as she approached Emily with a sleeping Jessica in her arms.

Emily reached over and gave her mom a hug, careful not to disturb the sleeping infant. "Thank you, mom, for everything. I don't know what we would have done without you the past few months."

"You would've figured it out, Emmy," Pam said as she looked down at Jessica. "I'm going to go put her in her swing in the living room so we can hear her if she wakes up."

"Thanks, mom," Emily said as she placed her hand gently on Pam's shoulder. "You really have been a lifesaver, don't sell yourself short." Emily watched as her mother walked through the house and put the sleeping baby into her swing. Now that she was a mother herself, Emily saw her own in a whole new light. She realized the depths of love that a mother has for her daughter, and finally felt the depth of love that a daughter has for a mother. Her mother had been there for her, every step of the way through her life, especially after reconnecting with Alison after so long. Pam was the first person Emily went to for advice. If Emily was questioning her parenting abilities, Pam always knew how to reassure her. Emily knew that Pam struggled at first with Emily's sexuality, but the two had grown closer once Pam finally accepted Emily for who she was. She felt like she didn't need to hide anymore, which made their relationship stronger. Emily would also be forever grateful for the way that Pam had accepted Alison with open arms. She had seen the relationship between her girlfriend and mother blossom over the past year, and it made her heart smile when she saw the two of them together, knowing that Pam saw Alison as a second daughter.

"Mom?" Emily said as she noticed Pam stumbled a little bit as she stood back up putting Jessica down in her swing. She quickly walked through the door, noticing how ashen Pam's skin had suddenly turned. "Mom!" Emily cried out as she watched Pam's eyes roll back into her head as she collapsed onto the floor.

 **A/N 2: Ok, so that was it, how'd you like it? Where do you think I'm going to go with the sequel? Let me hear your thoughts! Also, I think I am going to write most of the sequel before I start posting it. I wrote this one as I went, and there were times when I wanted to go in one direction, but something I had already written in an earlier chapter wouldn't allow it. So I think for editing purposes, I'm going to write it before I post. I also felt bad making you guys wait for updates at times (Like the ENTIRE month of December, lol). However, I may start writing and get too excited and post as I go. Who knows? I will tell you right now that the title will most likely be "Broken Roads". I will see you guys soon! Please let me know what you thought! Loved it? If you hated it, go read the next chapter, you'll probably be much happier, haha! Take care guys!**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Happy Monday! As promised, here is the epilogue. Thank you to everyone for your input on my pole last week! I want to say first and foremost, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your reviews, follows and favorites of both myself and this story. I never in a million years thought I would have the following of this story that I did. Special thanks to Francesca79, Alwaysdream1, LifeOfAPLL, and all the others and guests who have reviewed this and helped keep me motivated! So, without further ado, here's the epilogue of "Coming Home". Please, let me know what you guys think!**

"Ugh! Em!" Alison called out as she sat on the floor of the living room with dirty baby wipes surrounding her and a squirming four month old between her legs.

"Yeah?" Emily said as she came into the living room, dropping a hamper of clean laundry next to the sofa to be folded.

"Is there a clean onsie in there? _Your_ daughter just had an explosion and it's all up her back." Alison said as she scrunched her face up in disgust. Jessica looked up at her and gurgled, as if she was amused at how much of a mess she had made.

"Oh, so now she's _my_ daughter?" Emily mocked as she searched through the laundry basket, finally digging out a clean onsie before tossing it over to Alison and grabbing another article of clothing to fold.

"As of 11 o'clock this morning, she will be officially," Alison smiled as she began to change Jessica into a new onsie and put her dress on over. "And besides, there's only one other person in this room besides her who can shit that much and she isn't sitting on the living room floor," Alison laughed as she tickled Jessica's little legs, eliciting a belly laugh from the baby. Before she knew it, she was hit in the head with a burp rag that Emily had been folding. She looked at Jessica and smiled. "She's mad because she knows it's true! Yes she does!" Alison cooed to her daughter who began blowing spit bubbles and Alison used the rag to wipe the droll from Jessica's face.

"Great, _already_ you two are ganging up on me!" Emily said in mock exasperation.

Alison just laughed as she picked up Jessica and placed her into her swing next to the couch. She walked back over to Emily and bent down before gently placing a kiss to her lips. "I'm just going to change real quick, then we'll be ready to leave. I love you."

"I love you too, Ali," Emily smiled as she watched the blonde bound out of the room and up the stair. She let out a sigh as she continued to fold the laundry that only seemed to grow by the day now that there was a baby in the house. Emily was glad that Alison had seemed to be doing better the past few weeks. Today was the day that she would officially become Jessica's second mother and she was glad that Alison was back to her old self and seemed genuinely _happy._ To say that they all had a rough first couple of months after bringing Jessica home was an understatement. When they first brought Jessica home, they all had a readjusting period they had to go through. For the first few weeks, Jessica refused to be put down without crying endlessly. The baby also seemed to have an insatiable appetite. Alison had initially tried breastfeeding, but after consulting with several lactation specialists, found out Alison's body just wasn't producing enough milk to keep Jessica satisfied. Alison had felt awful at first, but after talking it out with Emily, decided that they were still going to breastfeed, but supplement with formula when needed. It had still been hard on Alison, though. She felt like her body was failing in providing for her daughter, even though Emily constantly reassured her.

It took them a couple of months, but now they had a routine down. Jessica only woke up once in the middle of the night for feedings, and Emily would usually take those and let Alison sleep. After all, Alison was home all day with Jessica once Emily returned to work, so it would give Emily and Jessica some time to bond. Alison hadn't seemed to mind, either, seeing as how initially she refused to get out of bed until Emily finally did it. Alison had initially tried to soothe their daughter at night, but quickly became frustrated after her attempts never seemed to be successful. Emily's mind took her back to one particularly hard night about two weeks after Jessica came home.

 _Emily awoke to the sounds of crying coming from downstairs. She noticed Alison was no longer next to her, so she threw on a hoodie over her head and headed for the stairs. The newborn's cries became louder as she descended the stairs. She found her girlfriend in the living room pacing back and forth frantically, black circles under her eyes and bouncing the crying baby trying to soothe her. Emily could see Jessica's face was flushed red while her little hands were clasped in anger and her feet were kicking in frustration._

 _"Ali?" Emily called out loudly over the baby's cries._

 _"I can't get her to stop, Em. She won't stop crying. I've changed her diaper, she refuses a bottle and she spits out the pacifier. I don't know what to do." Alison's voice broke at the end as tears began to spill out of the blonde's tired and bloodshot eyes._

 _Emily slowly walked over to the blonde and took Jessica out of Alison's arms. "Baby, it's ok. I've got her, go back upstairs and get some sleep." She placed a kiss to Alison's forehead, tasting a hint of salt on her lips from Alison's agitated state. She took a deep sigh as she bounced the baby up and down while watching Alison head back up the staircase. "It's ok, babygirl, Mama's got you," the brunette cooed to the infant as she slowly started to settle down after a couple of minutes. Emily tried the bottle once again and Jessica drank about half of it before finally drifting off to sleep. After quietly carrying her up to their bedroom, Emily gently placed the baby in her bassinet before climbing back into bed and sliding next to Alison's body. Exhaustion took over Emily's body immediately and she didn't even notice the quiet sobs coming from the blonde being held in her arms._

Emily thought that it would get easier for Alison as Jessica got bigger and wasn't _quite_ so needy. She also thought that with Emily being home for summer break, it would give Alison more time to herself. However, Emily had noticed that Alison seemed to take naps in the middle of the day when Jessica napped. That in itself was fine, being a parent was _extremely_ hard work, but when Alison began making excuses about not wanting to go for a walk or go to the pool with them, Emily became concerned and had approached the blonde one day at the beginning the summer.

 _"Alison, you've been cooped up in the house all week. Just come for a walk with us, it's beautiful out." Emily pleaded as she spread sunscreen across Jessica's delicate skin._

 _"I have so much to do here, Em. There's so much laundry and a mountain of dishes in the sink," Alison protested._

 _"I can fold the laundry tonight after we put Jessica down and I'll do the dishes after that. Please, Ali." Emily pouted out her bottom lip and gave her puppy dog eyes, hoping that would be enough to change Alison's mind._

 _"Plus I need to start making dinner, which I can't do with a sink full off dishes."_

 _"We'll eat out tonight, then." Emily was beginning to grow frustrated. She just wanted them to go out and do normally family things, but it seemed like Alison just always wanted to stay in the house._

 _"Emily! Enough!" Alison snapped to the brunette. "I don't want to go for a walk! You guys can go if you want, but I'm staying here!" Alison crossed her arms across her chest defiantly._

 _"Fine,_ Alison! _Stay here! But I'm pretty sure no one ever regretted spending_ too _much time with their kid!"_ _Emily regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but it was too late to take them back. She placed Jessica in her stroller and stormed out of the house, slamming the front door behind her so Alison know exactly how frustrated she was._

She had come back that day a little over an hour later and noticed that the dishes were done and dinner was cooking on the stove. She had found Alison in their bedroom, putting away one of the loads of laundry she had managed to fold. She noticed Alison's cheeks were stained with tears and she felt her heart break that she did that to her girlfriend. She apologized profusely to Alison, who in turn apologized back for not spending more time with the two of them while they could. She promised the brunette that she would be better. It was even Alison's idea to go talk to Dr. Sullivan again about a month and a half ago, who diagnosed her with Post-Partum Depression. Since then, Alison had started on medication to help her balance out her hormones until her body could do it naturally. Things had been on the upswing since about three weeks ago, and Emily couldn't have been more happy. Since then, the two would often share warm baths at the end of the day and relax with each other. They had also gone out on a couple of "date" nights while Pam came and watched the baby.

Emily just wanted Alison to be happy, and she tried everything in her power to be the best girlfriend and mother she could be, always. She felt that as Jessica was growing and getting bigger, her family was finally starting to fall into place. Now that things had settled somewhat, she felt like she was finally able to _really_ look to the future. She had promised Alison forever, and she intended on giving that to her.

XXXXX

"Ms. Fields, I am glad to announce that you are now an official parent of Jessica Catherine DiLaurentis-Fields." The judge stared down at their paperwork, not even bothering to look up, like he had tens of these cases to preside over today and it was too much of a bother to see the joy in the faces standing in front of them. It annoyed Alison to no end, but now was not the time to let her frustrations take over her emotions. She let the joy that she felt in the moment over take her body. She thought back to a few weeks ago when she felt like she was drowning. When she felt like she was standing in quick sand, and the more she struggled to get out, the deeper she seemed to sink. She was so glad that she had gone to see Dr. Sullivan when she did. She would never have forgave herself if she came to this court date suffering with the depression symptoms that she had faced after giving birth. She still struggled on some days, but those were getting fewer and farther between. Alison felt nothing but love and joy today, surrounded by the only two people she would ever need in her life. "Turn around to get your first official family picture."

Emily cradled a sleeping baby Jessica in her arms as she turned and looked briefly at Alison. The blonde looked gorgeous. She had a _genuine_ smile plastered on her face, which Emily had missed for those first few months. Words couldn't express the joy that was coursing through Emily's body while they were standing together in that courtroom. Throughout the day, Emily had visions of her and Alison, both in white gowns and exchanging vows in front of their loved ones with Jessica as their little flower girl. Now that Elliott was gone and Emily had officially adopted Jessica, she had to make that vision a reality. Emily bent forward and placed a gentle kiss to Jessica's forehead, before capturing Alison's lips in a chaste kiss. Alison gave Emily a dimpled smile before wrapping her arm around the brunette's waist and turning them both toward the photographer for their "first official family photo".

As they left the courthouse, Alison quickly slipped her hand into Emily's free hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Alison took a breath of deep air into her lungs before turning to Emily. "Would you want to go grab some sandwiches and then go have a picnic at the park? Let Jessica crawl around a little bit so she hopefully takes a longer nap when we get home," Alison said with a wink at the mention of a longer nap.

Emily's smile reached her eyes. "That sounds perfect, just like my girls," Emily said while pressing her lips to Alison's.

"I love you, Em," Alison breathed out as she slowly opened her eyes. Even after all this time, even the lightest of kisses from Emily left her breathless. "There isn't anyone I ever want beside me but you, Em. Thank you so much for sticking by me through all of this the past couple of months. I don't think I would have made it through without you and Jessica," Alison said, squeezing Emily's hand laced with her own.

Emily looked hard into Alison's eyes, needing the blonde to truly hear the words that were about to fall from her lips. "I am so proud of you, Alison. After everything life has thrown at you, you've fought and clawed your way back. You've shown me a love that I never knew existed. You've created a beautiful, tiny, prefect little girl and you've allowed me to share that with you. Alison, no matter what, I am here for you and I will always be so very proud of you."

Twin tears slipped from Alison's blue eyes. Emily's hand quickly left Alison's and found its way to her face, wiping them away as they collected on her jawline. Alison gave Emily a watery smile. "God, Em. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'm so glad I did it."

Emily gave Alison a smile before quickly leaning in and pecking Alison on the lips. "Come on, let's go get some food and wear Jessica out some so we can go prep for the party tomorrow while she naps."

"Sounds like the perfect plan," Alison said as she slid her hand back into Emily's and squeezed her fingers tightly as they headed off to the deli across the street for lunch.

XXXXX

"A toast! To the new moms, Emily and Alison!" Jason announced as everyone raised their glasses. "May your nights be filled with more sleep than they probably are right now!" Everyone chuckled at the joke as they all took a drink from their beverages.

Emily felt a little overwhelmed by the support that was lingering around them. Everyone they knew had come out to support Emily's endeavor to adopt Jessica and make her officially the brunette's daughter in the eyes of the law, so the couple decided to throw an "Adoption Party" as a thank you. It seemed like everyone in their lives was there: Pam, Jason and Aria, Spencer, and Hanna with her husband, Caleb, along with quite a few teachers from RHS. It was a small gathering, but Emily felt like all these people were her _family_. She had been through so much in her life, from feeling like she was on top of the world, to having it all come crashing down on her in an instant. She had moved across the country and embarked on a journey to first try and hide who she was, and then to finally embrace it once again. And then she found her way back to the place she was born, only to find the love of her life and start a family with her. For once in her life, she felt truly _home_. Sure, things weren't completely _perfect_ right now with Alison's struggles and the general struggles that come with raising a baby, but things were really starting to look up for the young family. This was their life, and Emily loved it to pieces. She had a daughter who was the spitting image of her mother, including the gorgeous piercing blue eyes. The only difference was the short, dark hair that laid atop her head. She had a woman by her side that she would do anything for and knew would do anything for her in return. This was her home, and nothing would ever take that away from her.

Alison was mingling through the crowd, being the perfect host as always. Emily stood there, watching Alison in amazement. She was so proud of Alison and everything she had accomplished over the last couple of weeks with the help of Dr. Sullivan. Alison was doing so much better and she could see the life slowly growing back inside of Alison. Emily fell more in love with Alison every day, seeing how she interacted with her daughter. She was still in awe every day that Alison had picked _her_ to join her on this journey. Emily suddenly wondered what their life would be like had Alison not sought out the help of Dr. Sullivan, but was quickly thankful she wouldn't have to find out.

"You guys sure know how to throw a party," Spencer said as she sauntered over with an extra champagne flute in her hand that she held out for the hostess.

Emily smiled and gave the taller brunette a quick nod while taking the flute from Spencer's hand. "Thank you, Spencer, for everything."

"You did all the decorating, Em," Spencer said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk as she took a sip of champagne.

"I'm serious, Spence. I wouldn't have known the first thing to do in adopting Jessica if it wasn't for you. You could've sent me off to someone else, but I appreciate you taking all that time and putting in the effort you did to see it through."

Spencer gave Emily a genuine smile. "There was no way I was letting some incompetent lawyer screw up your paperwork and waste your time and money while you had to keep going back to court to straighten everything out."

Emily let out a small laugh. "Thank you, anyway."

"You're welcome." Spencer clinked her glass with Emily's at the heartfelt sentiment. In that moment, she noticed Hanna and Aria walking their way with their own champagne flutes.

"Hey girls," Emily greeted as she hugged Hanna first and then Aria. "Thanks for coming today."

"We wouldn't miss this for the world," Aria stated.

"Hell, free alcohol, count me in!" Hanna said excitedly.

Emily laughed at her blonde friend. After reconnecting with Hanna after that day at the Radley, the two have been hanging out at least twice a week and she was glad to find out that her closest childhood friend's personality hadn't changed at all, really. Hanna was still the life of the party. Spencer had softened up around her now, too. Her and Alison butted heads every once in a while, but Alison was just as grateful for Spencer's help with the adoption as Emily was. The blonde was surprised to learn that Emily had sought out her help after the accident, but was glad she did because Spencer did absolutely everything in her power to get the adoption completed as quickly as possible.

The smallest brunette of the group looked between the four of them, a small smirk emerging on her face. She raised her glass to the middle of the group. "To the four musketeers riding again!"

Everyone laughed as the all raised their glasses in the same gesture and shouted "here, here!" Emily looked around at these girls and her heart swelled. She hadn't realized how much she had missed them in her life until they were all reunited. They all stepped in closer for a group hug and held each other tightly. _Yeah, this is definitely home_ , Emily thought to herself.

The party was coming to a close about an hour later. The afternoon sun was beginning to makes it's decent towards the west, casting long shadows in the back yard. Most of the RHS faculty had left, leaving just the five girls, Jason, Caleb and Pam. Jason and Caleb were bonding over some new tech gadget, while Alison had pulled Spencer, Aria and Hanna away about five minutes before for a "secret meeting" inside, leaving Emily alone on the back porch. The look on Alison's face as she dragged the girls inside made Emily insatiably curious as to what the blonde could _ever_ want to talk to them about. Emily made her way to follow them before Alison turned around and shot daggers at Emily's direction, daring her to see what would happen should she follow them inside. Both Spencer and Hanna looked back at pleading eyes to Emily. "Send a search party in five, Em, if we don't come back," Hanna shouted over her shoulder as Alison led them through the sliding glass doors and into the house. Emily laughed as she heard Alison say something about how dramatic Hanna was being.

"This was a beautiful party, honey," Pam said as she approached Emily with a sleeping Jessica in her arms.

Emily reached over and gave her mom a hug, careful not to disturb the sleeping infant. "Thank you, mom, for everything. I don't know what we would have done without you."

"You would've figured it out, Emmy," Pam said as she looked down at Jessica. "I'm going to go put her in her swing in the living room so we can hear her if she wakes up."

"Thanks, mom," Emily said as she placed her hand gently on Pam's shoulder. "You really have been a lifesaver, don't sell yourself short." Emily watched as her mother walked through the house and put the sleeping baby into her swing. Now that she was a mother herself, Emily saw her own in a whole new light. She realized the depths of love that a mother has for her daughter, and finally felt the depth of love that a daughter has for a mother. Her mother had been there for her, every step of the way through her life, especially after reconnecting with Alison after so long. Pam was the first person Emily went to for advice. If Emily was questioning her parenting abilities, Pam always knew how to reassure her. Emily knew that Pam struggled at first with Emily's sexuality, but the two had grown closer once Pam finally accepted Emily for who she was. She felt like she didn't need to hide anymore, which made their relationship stronger. Emily would also be forever grateful for the way that Pam had accepted Alison with open arms. She had seen the relationship between her girlfriend and mother blossom over the past year, and it made her heart smile when she saw the two of them together, knowing that Pam saw Alison as a second daughter.

As Pam came walking out of the house, Alison and the three other girls followed right behind her. "Hey, Em, can you come with us for a second?" Aria asked as they gathered on the porch.

Emily furrowed her brow in confusion, before looking at Alison and Pam, who both looked like they were trying their hardest to suppress smiles on their faces. "Ummmmm, sure. What's up?" Emily asked hesitantly.

"We just need to talk to you real quick, is all," Spencer interjected, trying hard to keep a straight face.

Hanna rolled her eyes. "The four of us haven't been together in _ages_ , we just need a little catch up session!" Hanna hooked her arms in Emily's and turned her back into the house, subtly turning towards Alison and throwing a wink at the other blonde. Alison mouthed a "thank you" before the four childhood best friends disappeared back into the house. "Let's go up the the nursery so you can show us how you decided to decorate it."

"Han, you've already _seen_ it?" Emily didn't get a response as she was dragged up the stairs and into Jessica's room. "Ok, guys, what are we doing up here? What's going on?"

"We just wanted to catch up with you, that's all. See how things were going?" Aria chimed in.

"Yeah! How's the shoulder feeling?" Hanna interjected.

Emily looked at her three friends skeptically. "It's fine Han, which you know already cause I've seen you _at least_ twice a week for the past five months! Seriously guys, what's going on?" All three friends quickly looked between each other, trying to come up with an excuse. Quickly becoming frustrated, Emily blurted out "we aren't leaving this room until you guys tell me what is going on!"

At those words, Aria's phone chimed. Aria bit the side of her lip as she read the incoming test message. "Uh, it's Ali, she says that she needs you out back."

Emily threw her arms up in the air and turned around with a huff, quickly walking out of the nursery and back down the stairs. Hanna, Aria and Spencer all exchanged smirks as they quickly followed behind the brunette. Emily slid open the sliding glass door and her breath caught in her throat. There was a soft glow emanating from the back yard, caused by strings of hundreds of white twinkle lights shining away in the fading daylight. Standing in the middle of the back yard was _her_ Alison, holding a bouquet of two dozen long stem red and white roses. Emily slowly walked forward towards Alison, while Spencer, Aria and Hanna all gathered at the door with Pam, Jason and Caleb gathered around, all of them trying their best to contain their excitement as the scene unfolded before them.

"Ali, what is all this?" Emily asked as she finally reached the blonde.

"These are for you." Alison handed the bouquet over to Emily. Emily accepted them as she inhaled the sweet smell, before leaning forward and placing a kiss to Alison's cheek. Emily noticed that Alison's eyes were beginning to brim with unshed tears.

"Ali? What's going on?" Emily asked, concern and curiosity filling her eyes as she noticed Alison's watery orbs.

Alison looked up to the sky, and took a deep breath, as if willing her tears not to fall. As she looked back down, Emily was met with Alison's beautiful face, her expression and eyes filled with nothing but love for the woman standing before her. Tears began to well in Emily's eyes. "Emily, since the moment that crashed back into my life..." Both women let out a small laugh, remembering back to that fateful day in the teacher's lounge when they _literally_ bumped into each other and Emily spilled her coffee on Alison's heels. "I knew that my life would be so much better with you in it. I know we had a rocky past, but being the amazing woman that you are, you saw past that and you saw _me._ " A tear slipped down Emily's cheek and Alison quickly wiped it away. "I've done things in the past that I'm not proud of. And you forgave me for things I did before I even forgave myself. When I saw myself as an ugly human being, you saw a beautiful soul." Alison's voiced cracked as a single tear escaped her eye, remembering back to their first date and Emily's words of love and encouragement she gave the blonde on that bench in Philadelphia. She quickly blinked the rest away as she continued on to the next part. Alison reached into the pocket on her jeans and pulled out a red velvet ring box.

Emily brought her free hand to her mouth as the tears she was trying to hold back came spilling over. Alison opened the box to reveal a beautiful, single stone diamond ring. She gasped as she recognized the ring immediately. "This is my grandmother's ring."

Alison nodded as she took the ring out of the box. "You make the world a better place, because you see the good in it. And you make me a better woman, because you search for one. Do you promise to do that, every day for the rest of our lives?" Alison grabbed Emily's left hand and slowly bent down on one knee while holding the ring out toward the brunette. The moment had become too overwhelming and the flood gates finally opened and now tears were spilling down Alison's face, as well. With watery vision, Alison readied herself to ask Emily the most important question of their lives. "Emily Catherine Fields, will you marry me?"

Emily gave Alison a watery smile. "Yes, Ali! Of course!" Emily's voice was hoarse with tears, but she quickly pulled Alison up and into a searing kiss. At that moment, everything around them faded away. The twinkling lights, the twilight sky, the trees and the house, even the ground felt like it had disappeared and they were floating on air, just the two of them, their lips connected in a kiss made of pure love. Alison looked down and slid the ring onto Emily's finger. "I love you, Ali."

"I love you too, Em"

They pulled away, holding each other for what felt like minutes, but in reality was only a few seconds until they were made aware of people around them when Pam approached Emily, gently placing a hand on Emily's shoulder. "Congratulations, honey." Pam's eyes were filled with tears as she gave her daughter a hug.

While Pam had Emily in a hug, Jason quickly ran up to Alison and picked her up into a bear hug. "I'm so happy for you, sis!" He swung her around a couple times before placing her gently back on the ground.

"Thank you, Jason." Alison smiled. The three other girls, all with tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyes, walked towards them and gave them both hugs and congratulations. Alison looked over to Emily and locked eyes with her now _fiancé_ and smiled a smile so big that her cheeks began to hurt. She couldn't believe that she was going to spend the rest of her life with the woman standing next to her. She grabbed Emily's hand, entwining their fingers and giving Emily's hand a tight squeeze, feeling the cool metal of the newly-placed engagement ring on Emily's finger. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Alison felt deep down in her heart that she was _home_.

 **A/N 2: Thanks again for reading this whole thing through guys! I hope this did justice to the story. This was how I originally was going to end this back when I started, so I hope you guys liked it. Let me know your thoughts! I will be working on the sequel to this next, but I will be back with another Emison fic that's floating around in my head. Also, if anyone just happens to be a OUAT fan, I do have an idea for a SQ fic, so be on the lookout for both of those! If not, thank you so much for reading! Take care guys! Have a good one!**


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